Is there a one-liner to get the first element of a split?

Question

Instead of writing:

@holder = split /\\./,\"hello.world\"; 
print @holder[0];

is it possible to just do a one-liner to just get the first e

Answer 1

I get the following error when I try the second example: "syntax error at test.pl line 3, near ")["

No, if you have warnings enabled as you should, you get:

print (...) interpreted as function at test.pl line 3.
syntax error at test.pl line 3, near ")["

which should be a big clue as to your problem.