18> my @nodes = qw(K1 ASC GEB N1) $res[7] = [ 'K1', 'ASC', 'GEB', 'N1' ] 19> my $regex = join '|', map { $_.'_(\w*\d*)'} @nodes $res[8] = 'K1_(\\w*\\d*)|ASC_(\\w*\\d*)|GEB_(\\w*\\d*)|N1_(\\w*\\d*)' 20> map { s/^$regex$//r } qw/drivel K1_bar42 ASC_foo666 whatever/ $res[9] = [ 'drivel', '', '', 'whatever' ] 21>