in reply to golf anyone? (taking first field)

Update: 'tis broken. See sauoq's reply.

Do you really just want the first word, even if there are several before the colon? In that case, 21.

# 1 2 #23456789012345678901 map/^([^:\s]+)/,@list
If you want to allow optional whitespace at the start of a line, 24.
# 1 2 #23456789012345678901234 map/^\s*([^:\s]+)/,@list

Makeshifts last the longest.