Try changing this:

$index =~ m"(.*?): (.*)";

my $key = $1;
my $val = $2;
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to this:

my $key='';
my $value='';
if ($index =~ m"(.*?): (.*)") {
    $key = $1;
    $val = $2;
}
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Never assume a match will exist. Consider this piece of careless code : )

'boo!' =~ /(.*)/;

$test_string = "this is a test sentence.";

$test_string =~ /(\w+)$/;

my $last_word=$1;

print "$last_word\n";
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If you assume a match will take place, you'd get extremely confused :)

cLive ;-)