Just use an XML parser. I recommend XML::LibXML. What you want to do then becomes 
print $_->getAttribute( 'HREF' ), "\n\n" for XML::LibXML
    ->new()
    ->parse_fh( \*ASX )
    ->findnodes( '//ref' )

[download]

Makeshifts last the longest.

In reply to Re: Matching optionally quoted string by Aristotle
in thread Matching optionally quoted string by JoshuaD

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