### Code Snippet

@array = ('<Band:3>40M <Call:5>KD4RR <QSL_Rcvd:1>Y <QSL_Sent:1>Y',
          '<Band:3>40M <Call:5>K7RRR <QSL_Sent:1>Y',
          '<Band:3>40M <Call:5>W7FAL <QSL_Rcvd:1>Y <QSL_Sent:1>Y');

my $num_elements = @array;
my $counter = 0;

while ($counter < $num_elements)
{
  $array[$counter] =~ /(QSL_RCVD:|QSL_Rcvd:)(\d+)>(\w+)/;
  if ($3 eq "Y")
  {
    print "Good Record: $array[$counter]\n";
    $counter++
  }
  else
  {
    print "Bad Record: $array[$counter]\n";
    $counter++
  }
}

[download]

Problem Description: When I run the above code,
I would expect the 2nd element in the array to
be printed as a bad record, as there is not a match
for the pattern being searched for (it doesn't have a
QSL_Rcvd field). However, it appears the pattern is
matched and it is printed as a good record. If I
re-arrange the order of the elements in the array,
and put the second element as the first element, then
the code works as I expected and the first element
is printed as a bad record.

From observation it looks like there is some kind of
persistence in $3, but that seems unlikely, so I am
thinking the problem is somehow related to my search
expression. Any help or insight would be appreciated.

In reply to Problem with regexp or saved match variable. by steve077

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