More readable: 
sub get_captures {
    my ($pattern, $line) = @_;
    my @captures = $line =~ m/$pattern/;
    shift(@captures) if !$#+;
    return @captures;
}

[download]
or 
sub get_captures {
    my ($pattern, $line) = @_;
    my @captures = $line =~ m/($pattern)/;
    shift(@captures);
    return @captures;
}

[download]

In reply to Re^5: regex question - dynamically address captures by ikegami
in thread regex question - dynamically address captures by nmerriweather

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