0-9 - all numbers a-zA-Z - all letters . - the decimal point \ - backslash / - forward slash - - the dash _ - the underline % - percent sign $ - dollar sign ' - single quote () - parenthesis {} - opening and closing brackets & - the and sign ! - the exclamation point ~ - wave ` - tick or whatever this is @ - the at sign # - the comment character ^ - this guy #### my $STR1 = '///?///'; my $STR2 = 'ABC_ABC'; print "\n" . ($STR1 =~ /(\d\w.\/~-_!@#$%\^&{}\(\).'`)/); print "\n" . ($STR2 =~ /(\d\w.\/~-_!@#$%\^&{}\(\).'`)/);