c:\@Work\Perl\monks>perl -wMstrict -le "my @tests = qw[ 10-K 10-KSB 10-K405 10-KSB405 10-Q 10-K/B 10-KA/ 10-KSB/ABC 10-K405/A 10-KSB405/A 10-Q/A ]; ;; my $formget = qr{ 10- [KQ] [^/]* \z }xms; ;; print qq{'$_': }, $_ =~ m[^$formget] ? 'matches' : 'does not match' for @tests; " '10-K': matches '10-KSB': matches '10-K405': matches '10-KSB405': matches '10-Q': matches '10-K/B': does not match '10-KA/': does not match '10-KSB/ABC': does not match '10-K405/A': does not match '10-KSB405/A': does not match '10-Q/A': does not match