Here is an SSCCE for you repurposing your own regex:

#!/usr/bin/env perl 
use strict;
use warnings;

my @AoA = (
    ['first word', 'greek latin'],
    ['alpha omega', 'beta test']
);
my @firsties;

for my $outer (@AoA) {
    for my $inner (@$outer) {
        push @firsties, $inner =~ /^(\w+)/;
    }
}

print "@firsties\n";

[download]

In reply to Re: First word by hippo
in thread First word by Anonymous Monk

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