c:\@Work\Perl>perl -wMstrict -le "print qq{perl version $]}; ;; for my $cc (qw( 1234987656785432 0000000000000000 0001000200030004 1000200030004000 )) { print qq{'$cc'}; ;; (my $fcc = $cc) =~ s{ \B (?= (?: ....)+ \z) }{-}xmsg; print qq{'$fcc' \n}; } " perl version 5.008009 '1234987656785432' '1234-9876-5678-5432' '0000000000000000' '0000-0000-0000-0000' '0001000200030004' '0001-0002-0003-0004' '1000200030004000' '1000-2000-3000-4000'