c:\@Work\Perl\monks>perl -wMstrict -le "my $codon = qr{ [ACGT]{3} }xms; my $start = qr{ ATG }xms; my $end = qr{ TAG | TAA | TGA }xms; ;; my $seq = 'AATGGTTTCTCCCATCTCTCCATCGGCATAAAAATACAGAATGATCTAACGAA'; ;; print qq{'$1'} while $seq =~ m{ ($start $codon*? $end) }xmsg; " 'ATGGTTTCTCCCATCTCTCCATCGGCATAA' 'ATGATCTAA'