Hi zerodmg,

See the discussion of m/PATTERN/ in Regexp Quote Like Operators: In scalar context, $string=~/.../ returns true/false for whether the match succeeded or not, in list context it returns the capture groups (unless you use the /g modifier, then the return value is different). The latter is what tybalt89 is showing you in the example, putting parens around the variable(s) in a my ($x) = ... assignment causes the right side to be evaluated in list context.

Hope this helps,
-- Hauke D