in reply to Question about split

You're using captures with split. You probably meant to say: 
$f='453445-5.bmp';
($base, $dash, $copy, $ext) = 
   $f =~ /^(\d+|\w+)(-)(\d+)(\.bmp)/;

[download]

The regex is the delimiter to split. Split, AFAIK, assumes you have at least one value before the delimiter. So, you had a blank value before the delimiter, then the delimiter (which was your entire value).

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