($foo, $bar, $date) = qw(fooa bar7 1-OCT-2007-RevA);
print "++foo ++bar ++date\n"
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and saw

foob bar8 1
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Darn clever version of perl have you do, says Yoda. I get ++foo ++bar ++date. You mean

print join(" ",++$foo,++$bar,++$date)
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which yields foob bar8 2.

Why limit the magic to strings that match the pattern. When is it ever better to return '1' than the incremented string?

That magic is a perl dwimmery for special cases, like incrementing filehandles of the form FH000. It is also limited to increment, string decrement isn't implemented.

It is arguably better to return 15 when incrementing 14 floz instead of returning 14 flpa. Here perl rightly (imho) guesses that the number is more important than the unit, which would become nonsensical anyways if incremented.

_($_=" "x(1<<5)."?\n".q·/)Oo.  G°\        /
                              /\_¯/(q    /
----------------------------  \__(m.====·.(_("always off the crowd"))."·
");sub _{s./.($e="'Itrs `mnsgdq Gdbj O`qkdq")=~y/"-y/#-z/;$e.e && print}