If I understand you correctly, the only problematic case for the split with -1 is the empty one. You can solve it by 
push @keys, [ split /\./, $key_string, -1 ];
$keys[-1] = [ q() ] unless @{ $keys[-1] };

[download]

I'm not sure it's more elegant than yours (elegance is in the eye of the beholder). In your solution, you can use just '.', the A is not needed.

Note that I used a different names for the array and scalar.

I don't understand the preamble. Do you need Data::Diver?

لսႽ† ᥲᥒ⚪⟊Ⴙᘓᖇ Ꮅᘓᖇ⎱ Ⴙᥲ𝇋ƙᘓᖇ

In reply to Re: 1 != split /a/, '' ? by choroba
in thread 1 != split /a/, '' ? by rsFalse

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