my $test = qq|Some test. This is a test-with a dash. We want to match test here|;

$test =~ s{\b(test)\b}{change_for_url($1)}eg;

sub change_for_url {

    print "GOT: '$_[0]'\n";
}

##</code><code>##

GOT: 'test'
GOT: 'test'
GOT: 'test'