my $x = "This is Perl"; $x =~/^((.+)(e|r)(.*))$/; print "1={$1} 2={$2} 3={$3} 4={$4}\n"; # 1={This is Perl} 2={This is Pe} 3={r} 4={l} my $x = "This is Perl, nice Perl"; $x =~/^((.+)(e|r)(.*))$/; print "1={$1} 2={$2} 3={$3} 4={$4}\n"; # 1={This is Perl, nice Perl} 2={This is Perl, nice Pe} 3={r} 4={l}