#!/usr/bin/perl

use strict;
use Data::Dumper;

my $regex = qr/^(\d{4})-(\d{2})-(\d{2})/;

my $s = '2011-02-15';
my ($y, $m, $d) = ($s =~ /$regex/)[0, 1, 2];
print Data::Dumper->Dump([$y, $m, $d], [qw/y m d/]);

##</code><code>##

#!/usr/bin/perl

use strict;
use Data::Dumper;
use constant REGEX => qr/^(\d{4})-(\d{2})-(\d{2})/;

my $s = '2011-02-15';
my ($y, $m, $d) = ($s =~ /&{[REGEX]}/)[0, 1, 2];
print Data::Dumper->Dump([$y, $m, $d], [qw/y m d/]);