my @terms = $ARGV[0] =~ /(\d{3})(\d{3})(\d{4})/; my $re = qr/^\(?$terms[0]\)?-?$terms[1]-?$terms[2]$/; #### $number =~ s/[^\d:]//g; if (grep $_ eq $ARGV[0], split ':::', $number) { say $number; }