in reply to Confusion with context

You may or may not consider this clearer:
my $ref = $sth->fetchrow_arrayref(); $ref->[1] =~ /enum\(/g or return (); return $ref->[1] =~ /\G'(.*?)',?/g;
"Find the start of the enum, then extract whatever is between quotes and followed optionally by a comma."

Caution: Contents may have been coded under pressure.