- @parts = split(/($pre.*?$post)/,$text);
+ @parts = split(/($pre.*?%*$post)/,$text);
[download]

Thanks Fastolfe! That was the spark I needed. Here is the new code that works for me:

$pre= "\\*\\*";                                             
$post = "%%"; 
$firstchar = substr($post,0,1); 
$text = "**this is good%% blah **this is bad%%%%%% blah ***this is bad
+%%%blah"; 
                                                        
@parts = split(/($pre.*?$firstchar*$post)/,$text); 
 
foreach $part (@parts) { 
  print "part: $part\n"; 
}
[download]

$pre= "\\*\\*";

You can save some eyesight by using single quotes: $pre='\*\*'

I also came up with: my @parts = split(/($pre{2,}.*?$post{2,})/,$text); Where $pre and $post are defined as a single character.