in reply to Switch and $1?

To further Corion's excellent advice, you most likely don't need to directly use $1, $2, etc. either. This code: 

my $str = 'hello world';

$str =~ /^(\S+)\s/;

print $1;

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Is most often better written like so: 
my $str = 'hello world';

my ($match) = $str =~ /^(\S+)\s/;

print $match;

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In other worsds, capture your match in your own variable. :)

jeffa

L-LL-L--L-LL-L--L-LL-L--
-R--R-RR-R--R-RR-R--R-RR
B--B--B--B--B--B--B--B--
H---H---H---H---H---H---
(the triplet paradiddle with high-hat)

In Section Seekers of Perl Wisdom