#seems like the string "branch from" is not matching since $1 below prints nothing

$1 refers to text matched by the first set of capturing parens (if any). Since your regex:

if ($line =~ /branch from/)

[download]

doesn't contain any capturing parens, $1 will never be set.

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In reply to Re: Match problem by BrowserUk
in thread Regex problem by perl_mystery

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