Did you try the using "while", as well? I've got this:

#!/usr/bin/perl -w

my $string = '<a href="page.cfm?objectid=11933900&method=full&siteid=5
+0144"> Costly false alarms </a> <a href="page.cfm?objectid=11933890&m
+ethod=full&siteid=50144"> Mindless yobs terrorise OAPs </a> <a href="
+page.cfm?objectid=11933879&method=full&siteid=50144"> Road deaths </a
+> <a href="page.cfm?objectid=11933842&method=full&siteid=50144"> Twis
+ted porn pervert caged for life </a> <a href="page.cfm?objectid=11933
+800&method=full&siteid=50144"> Greenbelt homes plan appeal thrown out
+ </a>';

while ( $string =~ m!(<a[^>]*>)(.+?</a[^>]*>)!ig )
{
        print "1st match: $1 \n";
        print "2nd match: $2 \n\n";
}
[download]

and when I run it, I get this:

1st match: <a href="page.cfm?objectid=11933900&method=full&siteid=5014
+4">
2nd match:  Costly false alarms </a>

1st match: <a href="page.cfm?objectid=11933890&method=full&siteid=5014
+4">
2nd match:  Mindless yobs terrorise OAPs </a>

1st match: <a href="page.cfm?objectid=11933879&method=full&siteid=5014
+4">
2nd match:  Road deaths </a>

1st match: <a href="page.cfm?objectid=11933842&method=full&siteid=5014
+4">
2nd match:  Twisted porn pervert caged for life </a>

1st match: <a href="page.cfm?objectid=11933800&method=full&siteid=5014
+4">
2nd match:  Greenbelt homes plan appeal thrown out </a>
[download]

which I think is what you want. I first tried just doing a single "$string =~ m!(<a^>*>)(.+?</a^>*>)!ig" and then printing out $1, $2,...$8, and only got values for the first two. That "while" thing seems a little shady, for the reason I put in my updated post above, but it seems to work in this case.

---

---

Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!

Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.

Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.

Please read these before you post! —

• How do I compose an effective node title?
• How do I post a question effectively?
• Markup in the Monastery

Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:

a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr

You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)

	For:		Use:
	&		&
	<		&lt;
	>		&gt;
	[		&#91;
	]		&#93;

Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?

See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.