#!/usr/bin/perl use warnings; use strict; my @ranges = ('5-10', '14-18', '22-27'); my $in = '1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12-13-14-15-16-17-18-19-20-21-22-23-24-25-26-27-28-29-30'; my $exp = 'A-A-A-A-X-X-X-X-X-X-B-B-B-X-X-X-X-X-A-A-A-X-X-X-X-X-X-B-B-B'; use Test::More tests => 1; my $replace = 'A'; my $out = $in; my $in_range; while ($in =~ /([0-9]+)/g) { my $i = $1; if (! $in_range && grep /^$i-/, @ranges) { $in_range = 1; } $out =~ s/[0-9]+/$in_range ? 'X' : $replace/e; if ($in_range && grep /-$i$/, @ranges) { undef $in_range; $replace = $replace eq 'A' ? 'B' : 'A'; } } is $out, $exp;