use strict; use warnings; use 5.012; my $text = 'hello world goodbye'; my $target = 'hello'; my %keys = ('world' => undef); my $repl = 'Hello'; if ($text =~ $target) { my $output; if (exists $keys{$target}) { $output = $repl; } else { $output = "[$repl]"; } say "$output "; } --output:-- [Hello]