c:\@Work\Perl\monks>perl -wMstrict -le "my $word = '$-.%aBc&/'; my $new_word = join '', map { /[[:alpha:]]/ ? qq{[$_]} : $_ } split '', $word ; print qq{'$word' -> '$new_word'}; " '$-.%aBc&/' -> '$-.%[a][B][c]&/'