According to the camel book (page 65 in 2nd edition for those of you keeping score at home),
The variables $1, $2, $3 ... are automatically localized, and their sc
+ope extends to the end of the enclosing block or eval string, or to t
+he next successful pattern match, whichever comes first.

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So, your $1 is "stomped" within the local scope of the enclosing braces. To elaborate:
if ($_ =~ /ORG\:(.+)/) {
    # $1 in scope A
    if ($1 =~ /^(.+)\;(.+)\;(.+)$/) {
        # $1 now in scope B
        $card{'org'}=$1; $card{'div'}=$2; $card{'dept'}=$3;
     } 
     # $1 now in scope A again
     elsif ($1 =~ /^\;(.+)\;(.+)$/) {
        # $1 now in scope C

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Update: See merlyn's clarification below. Seems either (a) I didn't understand the book correctly, or (b) he (or Larry or Tom) should've written it clearer. ;-)
Hope that helps,
Shendal

In reply to Re: Scope of regular expression variables by Shendal
in thread Scope of regular expression variables by FauxPasIII

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