"So in general, is it not possible to do a multi-array assignment in a single line, i.e.: (@a, @b) = <some_expression>"

That's correct with the syntax you're using there; however, you can do it with references. Here's a rather contrived example to demonstrate. 

#!/usr/bin/env perl -l

use strict;
use warnings;

my ($letters, $digits) = get_arrays();

print "Letters REF: $letters";
print "Letters: @$letters";
print for @$letters;
print "Digits REF: $digits";
print "Digits: @$digits";
print for @$digits;

sub get_arrays {
    my @three_letters = qw{A B C};
    my @three_digits = qw{1 2 3};
    return (\@three_letters, \@three_digits);
}

[download]

Output:

Letters REF: ARRAY(0x7ff684047ad0)
Letters: A B C
A
B
C
Digits REF: ARRAY(0x7ff684047938)
Digits: 1 2 3
1
2
3

[download]

If you're unfamiliar with references, a good place to start is "perlreftut - Mark's very short tutorial about references". In the "The Rest" section, you'll find links to more detailed documentation on this topic.

-- Ken

In reply to Re^3: multiple matches per line *AND* multiple capture groups per match by kcott
in thread multiple matches per line *AND* multiple capture groups per match by Special_K

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.