$str = 'a, "b,c", d';
@array = eval('('.$str.')');
##</code><code>##

#!/usr/bin/perl

#set string to split on ","
my $str = 'a,"b,c",d';

#use perl to parse an array as it normally would
#
#   after the eval this next line will look like:
#   my @a = (a,"b,c",d);
#
#   so $a[0] = 'a', $a[1] = 'b,c', and $a[2] = 'd'
my @array = eval("(".$str.")");

#catch errors from eval
if( $@ )
{   
    die "eval error: $@\n";
}

#print out the results.
foreach (@array)
{
    print $_, "\n";
}