s/-([bc])/-:$1/g; actually doesn't look for the whole string at all--[bc] is a character class, not a literal string.

This means that your regex translates to

when you wanted that second line to read "the string 'bc' (save this string in $1)".

The easy solution is to take those brackets out:

s/-(bc)/-:$1/g;

and for what I'm guessing is the next step (multiple strings that could match), you can use

s/-(foo|bar|bc|whatever)/-:$1/g;

But in fact you might be better off with tachyon's suggestion:

s/(?<=-)(?=foo|bar|baz)/:/g; #assuming you have 5.005 or better

The longer but more rewarding solution is to take another couple of trips through perlre when you have a moment--regexen are not the fastest thing in the world to pick up (for us mere mortals, anyway) but they reward study very nicely. :-)

Your other question just needs the last argument to split: 

($first, $second) = split ' ', "a  b c", 2;

[download]
and you're all set. Good luck!

Update: fixed boneheaded mistake in split (thanks, Hofmator!)


If God had meant us to fly, he would *never* have given us the railroads.
    --Michael Flanders

In reply to Re: Re: place holder by ChemBoy
in thread place holder by eyal

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