use strict; use warnings; my $n = 'asdfklj fuyy23 1234567890123456 78vc'; $n =~ s/(\d{6,6})(\d{6,6})(\d{4,4})/$1******$3/; print "$1 $2 $3\n"; print $n; __END__ 123456 789012 3456 asdfklj fuyy23 123456******3456 78vc