As you have already got the answer I just thought I might mention that the {1} does nothing as the default for a character class match is 1 char.

If you just want to grab say the first bit of the domain foo.com (ie the bit before the first . ) then a simple regex like this will do the trick.

$domain = 'foo.com.au';

(my $first_bit) = $domain =~ m/([^.]+)/;

print $first_bit;
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cheers

tachyon

s&&rsenoyhcatreve&&&s&n.+t&"$'$`$\"$\&"&ee&&y&srve&&d&&print