c:\@Work\Perl\monks>perl -wMstrict -le "my @X = ('aX-raya', 'aX raya', 'aXraya', 'axraya', 'X Ray', 'aXYraya'); ;; print 'case-sensitive matching:'; for my $s (@X) { printf qq{'$s' -> }; if ($s =~ m{ X [- ]? ray }xms) { print 'match'; } else { print 'NO match'; } } ;; print 'case-INsensitive matching:'; for my $s (@X) { printf qq{'$s' -> }; if ($s =~ m{ (?i) X [- ]? ray }xms) { print 'match'; } else { print 'NO match'; } } " case-sensitive matching: 'aX-raya' -> match 'aX raya' -> match 'aXraya' -> match 'axraya' -> NO match 'X Ray' -> NO match 'aXYraya' -> NO match case-INsensitive matching: 'aX-raya' -> match 'aX raya' -> match 'aXraya' -> match 'axraya' -> match 'X Ray' -> match 'aXYraya' -> NO match