There's no problem with that. If the regex fails, $3 stays the same. If it succeeds, $3 won't be overwritten until after the regex is done.

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Jeff[japhy]Pinyan: Perl, regex, and perl hacker, who'd like a job (NYC-area)
s++=END;++y(;-P)}y js++=;shajsj<++y(p-q)}?print:??;