Use one regex instead of two, and stop once you have both. 
while ( <DATAFILE> ) {
    m/\$(pagetitle|category)\s*=\s*\"(.*?)\"/i or next;
    my $which = lc($1);
    $pt = $2 if $pt ne "" and $which eq "pagetitle";
    $pc = $2 if $pc ne "" and $which eq "category";
    last if $pt ne "" and $pc ne "";
}

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In reply to Re: Optimizing a regex by dws
in thread Optimizing a regex by ZydecoSue

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