...consider splitting...
Or define your X subpattern as a separate regex, then build the pattern with it: 
my $subpat = qr/(?:<\*\d+>)?([^<]+)<(\d+):(\d+)>/;
$str =~/$subpat(?:,$subpat)*/;

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However, the capturing parentheses are not going to capture everything this way.
Caution: Contents may have been coded under pressure.

In reply to Re^2: regular expression help by Roy Johnson
in thread regular expression help by pip9ball

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