I'm trying to parse a string where the comma is pulling double duty. Here's an example:

foo:a,bar:a,b,c,baz:d

This should result in the following array, which I can then process further as needed: 

foo:a
bar:a,b,c
baz:d

[download]

I could do this with a two-pass method, where first I do a substitution like this:

s/,(\w+):/MONKEYBUTT$1:/g;

and then split on /MONKEYBUTT/ (or some other unlikely string).

But is there a more elegant solution that wouldn't offend our simian friends?

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A fair fight is a sign of poor planning.

In reply to Double-duty commas by Sprad

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