my $VAL = (grep { defined } map { /^\*\s\(?([^\)]+)\)?/ ? $1 : () } @G
+ET_STRING)[0];
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The grep seems unneeded: (Update: in the quoted code) nothing from map will ever be undefined:

>perl -wMstrict -le
"my @GET_STRING =
   ('no', '*nine', '*(not)', '* yes', '* (yup)', '* ya)');
 ;;
 my $first =
   (map { / ^ \* \s \(? ([^\)]+) \)? /x ? $1 : () } @GET_STRING)[0];
 print qq{'$first'};
"
'yes'
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