Seems such a trivial thing, don't you agree?

Let's give it another shot.

while (<DATA>) {
    # lol, comments in __DATA__ :)
    next if m/^#/;

    #m!! to allow for better-readable slashes inside the regex
    #/x modifier to make the regex even better readable

    ($date, $address) = $_ =~  m! .*? (\d+ / \d+ / \d+)? \s* (.+) !x; 
    print "date:<$date>\naddress:<$address>\n\n";

}

__DATA__
# a line without a date
                A very good looking address
# a line with a date
15/5/85         That's my actual birth day!

[download]

Output:

date:<>
address:<A very good looking address>

date:<15/5/85>
address:<That's my actual birth day!>

[download]

In reply to Re^3: Parsing Regex by muba
in thread Parsing Regex by deMize

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