$z='Web-developer, perl-program, explicit-element, function-call, 2-x speed.'; print "|$z|\n---\n"; $vrm='(?^ui:(\W)([^(\d|web)]+)-([^(proramm|call)]+)) "1>$1<3>$3< 2>$2<"'; @bz=split "\t", $vrm; for( $i=0; $i<$#bz; $i+=2 ){ while( $z=~s#$bz[$i]#$bz[$i+1]#g ){ print "|$z|\n"; # ; } }