# 1
my @array = split /pattern/, $file_content;
shift @array;

# 2
my ($dummy_var,@array) = split /pattern/, $file_content;
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Just a thought, instead of using a dummy variable, you would be better off saying

my (undef,@array) = split /pattern/, $file_content;
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-Lee

"To be civilized is to deny one's nature."

use strict;
use Data::Dumper;
my $string = '=123=123=435';
my @array  = grep { $_ ne '' } split '=', $string;
print Dumper \@array;
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You may need to adjust the grep for your needs.

Oh, and in case anyone considers the golfish grep{$_}, remember that this disallows all false values, such as 0 and 0.0.

I am wondering about the first two answers to your post. They match your problem spec closer than my solution. However, mine appears more robust (what happens if the first element isn't the pattern?). Bad data is always to be expected. I think my solution would be slower, but is the robustness enough to offset the that? Depends upon the speed and your needs.

Cheers,
Ovid

Update:

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Robustness is in the eye of the beholder. While you don't throw away the first line if the file doesn't start with the pattern, you throw away information if the pattern appears twice in succession. And while it's given that the file starts with the pattern; it isn't given a pattern cannot appear twice. Hence your claim of "more robust" is at best dubious.

About your remark of grep {$_}, note that the result of split is an array of strings, and "0.0" is true</code>, so the grep {$_} will not filter out the 0.0.

-- Abigail

Perhaps if you post some code it would be easier to see what you are doing wrong.

I am guessing the correct version might look something like this:

#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use warnings;

open( my $file, "/tmp/bighurkinfile" ) or die "failed to open bighurki
+nfile: $!";
chomp( my $pattern = <$file> ); # assumes pattern on first line by its
+elf

my @records;
{
    local $/ = undef;
    @records = split /$pattern/, <$file>; # probably should do sanity 
+check on the pattern first...    
}
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