my $string = "Example 1: 413-577-1234
              Example 2: 981-413-777-8888 
              Example 3: 413.233.2343 
              Example 4: 562-3113 
              Example 5: 401 311 7898
              Example 6: 2342343-23878-878-2343
              Example 7: 1 (413) 555-2378
              Example 8: 4135552378
              Example 9: 413 789 8798 343 9878";
extract($string);


sub extract {
  my %results = (); 
  my $string = shift;

   # pad string with spaces to make it easier to find phone numbers at beginning and end of strings
  $string = ' ' . $string . ' ';

  # get rid of consecutive whitespace characters to make regex easier and faster
  $string =~ s/(\s){2,}/$1/g;

  # find patterns in the string that look like phone numbers
  my @matches = $string =~ /


                   # Look for ten digit North American numbers
                   (?:1(?:\.|\s|-))*       # optional 1 followed by period OR whitespace or dash 
                   \(?                     # optional opening paren
                   \d{3}                   # three consecutive digits
                   (?:\.|\)|-|\s|\)\s)?    # optional punctuation (period, close paren, dash, whitespace)
                   \d{3}                   # three consecutive digits
                   (?:\.|-|\s)?            # optional punctuation
                   \d{4}                   # 4 consecutive digts

                   |                  

                   # Look for seven digit North American numbers

                   \d{3}              # three consecutive digits
                   (?:\.|-|\s)?       # optional punctuation
                   \d{4}              # 4 consecutive digts
  
                   /gx;

  say "Match: '$_'" for @matches;

}

##</code><code>##

Match: '413-577-1234'
Match: '1-413-777-8888'
Match: '413.233.2343'
Match: '562-3113'
Match: '401 311 7898'
Match: '2342343'
Match: '878-878-2343'
Match: '1 (413) 555-2378'
Match: '4135552378'
Match: '413 789 8798'
Match: '343 9878'