c:\@Work\Perl\monks>perl -wMstrict -le "$_ = '222,345,222,678,222,223,224,222,543'; ;; 1 while m{ 22[234] , (*MARK:BACK3) (\d\d\d) (?{ print qq{'$^N'} }) (*SKIP:BACK3) (*FAIL) }xmsg; " '345' '678' '223' '224' '222' '543'