From: Paul Melis <paul@...>
Date: 2002-12-01T00:58:59+09:00
Subject: Re: Scope of regex match $variables

"Martin DeMello" <martindemello@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:Qd3G9.10876$Qr.203053@news3.calgary.shaw.ca...
> returns "ell" and nil. Is there any way to make the value of $1 persist
> when the function returns?

From the Pickaxe book:

"$1 to $9 - String - The contents of successive groups matched in the last
successful pattern match. In "cat" =~/(c|a)(t|z)/, $1 will be set to ``a''
and $2 to ``t''. This variable is local to the current scope."

Looks like you have to save them explicitly yourself.
Paul