use strict; use warnings; my @test = ("ananas", "de:mindset:rule1", "en:mindset:rule1", "wiki:welcome", " de:sidebar", "sidebar", "en:sidebar", "start", "de:start", "en:start"); my ($cnt, $result); print "start first loop \n"; $cnt=0; foreach (@test) { if ($_ !~ /(start|sidebar)/) { print " >$_<\n"; $cnt++; } } $result = ($cnt eq 4? ">> correct result" : ">> wrong result"); print "end first loop <$cnt> is $result\n\nstart second loop \n"; $cnt=0; foreach (@test) { if ($_ =~ /(?!start|sidebar)/) { print " >$_<\n"; $cnt++; } } $result = ($cnt eq 4? ">> correct result" : ">> wrong result"); print "end second loop <$cnt> is $result\n"; print ">>pgm ended\n";