Yes, this is perfectly normal. A failing match doesn't clobber the existing match variables ($1, $2, etc).
If you want to do what you're doing, it's probably better to use something like
my ($am) = ($_[0] =~ /$mask/);
my ($bm) = ($_[1] =~ /$mask/);
though I'd be strongly inclined to lose the
($$) prototype and use
$a and
$b rather than
$_[0] and
$_[1]. As well as being more readable, it's also more efficient. (OTOH if efficiency really matters, you may as well follow Fletch's suggestion above.)
I'm baffled by your $am <=> $bm || $am cmp $bm. You know that $am and $bm are either empty or two-digit numbers, so what's the point in cmping them?
