Well... you can do 
my $val = (split /\./, 'foo.bar.aaa')[0];
#or
my($val) = 'foo.bar.aaa' =~ /^([^.]+)/;

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The regexp method is most likely the more efficient, especially on larger strings.

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In reply to Re: split...or better? by suaveant
in thread split...or better? by mikejones

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