$text =~ s/\Q$_\E/$fixers{$_}/g for keys %fixers; #### my ($re) = map qr/$_/, join '|', map quotemeta, keys %fixers; while (...) { ... $text =~ s/$re/$fixers{$_}/g for keys %fixers; ... } #### use List::Regexp qw( ); my $re = List::Regexp->new()->list2re( keys %fixers ); while (...) { ... $text =~ s/$re/$fixers{$_}/g for keys %fixers; ... }