"...will also match 'xf-3/2/a' or even '@-&-*&^-@#$/_)(/&^/%-$#?!'"

Sure, it will. But i have a strong faith in the good in people.

But for peace in the monastry i eat humble pie - here the revised version (still 3 chars less to type):

my @outputlist = $myint=~m|(\w+)-(\d+)/(\d+)/(\d+)|;

Edit: Minor improvement of formatting.

Best regards, Karl