I don't understand why this results in $1 = $2 = $3 = undef... 
$_ = "aaaabbbbcccc";
if ( not /^(\w\w)(\w\w)(\w\w)$/ ) {
    if ( not /^(\w\w)\w\w(\w\w)\w\w(\w\w)\w\w$/ ) {
        die "failed";
    }
}
print "$_ = $1 $2 $3\n";

[download]
...but this gives me $1 = aa, $2 = bb, $3 = cc... 
$_ = "aaaabbbbcccc";
if ( not /^(\w\w)\w\w(\w\w)\w\w(\w\w)\w\w$/ ) {
    die "failed";
}
print "$_ = $1 $2 $3\n";

[download]
...as I would have expected from the first snippet. Am I just being thick?

In reply to capture vars undef by msemtd

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