If I understand what you're trying to do, then try this fragment:

$_="a1:   a, b, c, e";

my @tokens=split / +/;

for my $i (1..(scalar(@tokens)-1))
{
     print "\"$tokens[$i]\"\n";
}

should return:

"a,"
"b,"
"c,"
"d,"
"e"

metadoktor

"The doktor is in."