Yes. That's exactly my point. My examples showed that /|/ and '|' were the same. For completeness:

$string = "2|3||";

print "Backwhacked bar in pattern: ";
print "($_)" for split /\|/, $string; print "\n";
print "Backwhacked bar in quotes:  ";
print "($_)" for split '\|', $string;  print "\n";
print "Just a bar in pattern:      ";
print "($_)" for split /|/, $string;  print "\n";
print "Just a bar in quotes:       ";
print "($_)" for split '|', $string;  print "\n";
__END__
Backwhacked bar in pattern: (2)(3)
Backwhacked bar in quotes:  (2)(3)
Just a bar in pattern:      (2)(|)(3)(|)(|)
Just a bar in quotes:       (2)(|)(3)(|)(|)
[download]

The presence of bars in the output of both splitting on '|' and on /|/ is because those are both really splitting on the null pattern. The quoted bar is not preserving fields.

-sauoq
"My two cents aren't worth a dime.";