in reply to regex and database fields

Here is one way: 
use strict;
use warnings;

my $str = '*E2@x*PAP';
if ($str =~ /\*(.+?)\@x\*(.+?)$/) {
    print "1st: $1\n";
    print "2nd: $2\n";
}
__END__
1st: E2
2nd: PAP

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With an explanation brought to you by YAPE::Regex::Explain: 

use warnings;
use strict;
use YAPE::Regex::Explain;

my $re = '\*(.+?)\@x\*(.+?)$';
my $parser = YAPE::Regex::Explain->new($re);
print $parser->explain;

__END__ 

The regular expression:

(?-imsx:\*(.+?)\@x\*(.+?)$)

matches as follows:

NODE                     EXPLANATION
----------------------------------------------------------------------
(?-imsx:                 group, but do not capture (case-sensitive)
                         (with ^ and $ matching normally) (with . not
                         matching \n) (matching whitespace and #
                         normally):
----------------------------------------------------------------------
  \*                       '*'
----------------------------------------------------------------------
  (                        group and capture to \1:
----------------------------------------------------------------------
    .+?                      any character except \n (1 or more times
                             (matching the least amount possible))
----------------------------------------------------------------------
  )                        end of \1
----------------------------------------------------------------------
  \@                       '@'
----------------------------------------------------------------------
  x                        'x'
----------------------------------------------------------------------
  \*                       '*'
----------------------------------------------------------------------
  (                        group and capture to \2:
----------------------------------------------------------------------
    .+?                      any character except \n (1 or more times
                             (matching the least amount possible))
----------------------------------------------------------------------
  )                        end of \2
----------------------------------------------------------------------
  $                        before an optional \n, and the end of the
                           string
----------------------------------------------------------------------
)                        end of grouping
----------------------------------------------------------------------

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In Section Seekers of Perl Wisdom