split /(\".*?\"(?=,))|(.*?(?=,))|(.*?(?=\n))/
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Yeeech. I guess when all you have in your toolbox is a hammer, everything gets a little banged up, regardless.

Had you considered using @result = /pattern/g instead of split? What I've found is that in general, if it's easier to talk about what you're keeping than what you're throwing away, the match wins over the split.