#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use 5.010;
use strict;

print "\n";

my $a = "12.04.2012";
my $b = "12;04;2012";

my @wp = split /./,$a; 
print "a1: @wp\n";

@wp = split /\./,$a; 
print "a2: @wp\n";

@wp = split /;/,$b;
print "b3: @wp\n";