[tpm] String matching at start or middle or end of list

[Indy Singh]

Hi All,

What is a good way to match a string that may appear at the start or middle or end of a list.  I have stumbled along and made this 
work in the past, now I am looking for the clean and proper way to do it.


Example:
my $s = 'foo,bar,boo,baz';
my ($match) = $s =~ /(foo)/;

I am looking to match the following:
The start of a string or a separator followed by
A specified string followed by
A separator or the end of the string

What are the extra things I need to surround the match expression?

One of the unpleasant side effects of putting a list with alternatives at the start .e.g. '(^|,)' , is that it creates an undesired 
capture string. Is it possible to avoid creating the capture string?

Indy Singh
IndigoSTAR Software -- www.indigostar.com