> 
> **Possible Duplicate:**  
> 
> [How can I split a string into chunks of two characters each in Perl?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/372370/how-can-i-split-a-string-into-chunks-of-two-characters-each-in-perl) 
> 
> 
> 

I wanted to split a string into an array grouping it by 2-character pieces:

```
  $input = "DEADBEEF";
  @output = split(/(..)/,$input);

```

This approach produces every other element empty.

```
  $VAR1 = '';
  $VAR2 = 'DE';
  $VAR3 = '';
  $VAR4 = 'AD';
  $VAR5 = '';
  $VAR6 = 'BE';
  $VAR7 = '';
  $VAR8 = 'EF';

```

How to get a continuous array?

```
  $VAR1 = 'DE';
  $VAR2 = 'AD';
  $VAR3 = 'BE';
  $VAR4 = 'EF';

```

(...other than getting the first result and removing every other row...)