You have a bug:
my $string = join('x', 'a'x20);
should be
my $string = join('x', ('a')x20);
Fix that and it works.

If you always have one element left over, you can make the code readable as:

use strict;
use warnings;

my $string = join('x', ('a')x20);

my @foo = split('x', $string);
my $foo = pop(@foo);
print "Success!\n" if $foo eq "a";
[download]

If you always have a variable number of elements left over, you have a problem fixed as follows:

use strict;
use warnings;

my $string = join('x', ('a')x20);

my (@foo, $foo);

(@foo[0..18], $foo) = split('x', $string, 20);  # <-- added limit.
print "Success!\n" if $foo eq "a";
[download]

If my real problem were as easy as my toy script, I'd certainly follow one of your above solutions. However, it's more like this:

my (
      $field1,
      $field2,
      #...
      $field25,
      @field26[0..25],
      $field27,
      $field28,
      #...
   ) = split(/\|/);
[download]

This way, it makes it obvious that I'm grabbing a fixed number from the split return. I appreciate the terseness in your solutions, though. Now that I know that it was a problem with my test data and not my approach, I'll be using something like what I originally posted.

thor

Feel the white light, the light within
Be your own disciple, fan the sparks of will
For all of us waiting, your kingdom will come

I think you're after something like this:

@important_fields = (split /\|/, $string)[25..50];
[download]

duff

use strict;
use warnings;

my $string = join('x', ('a')x20);   ### NOTE the ()'s
print $string,$/;

my (@foo, $foo);

(@foo[0..18], $foo) = split('x', $string);
print $foo[0],$/;
print "Success!\n" if $foo eq "a";
__END__
axaxaxaxaxaxaxaxaxaxaxaxaxaxaxaxaxaxaxa
a
Success!
[download]

I don't quite understand your  join('x', 'a'x20); otherwise. Why join a scalar?

cheers

SK

For this case, where you only want one item, reverse your split:

use strict;
use warnings;

my $string = join('x', ('a') x 20);

my (@foo, $foo);

($foo, @foo) = reverse( split('x', $string) );

print "\$foo:$foo\n";
print "\@foo:@foo\n";
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Prints

$foo:a
@foo:a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a
[download]

Note the fix in your $string line to put 'a' as a list