if you find a way to escape curlies and other "wildcard characters" #### #!/usr/bin/perl # https://perlmonks.org/?node_id=1226189 use strict; use warnings; #print glob qq("$_") =~ s/[^|\n]+/{$&}/gr while ; print map tr/\1-\7/{}[]"*?/r, glob +('"' . tr/{}[]"*?/\1-\7/r . '"') =~ s/[^|\n]+/{$&}/gr while ; __DATA__ some text foo | some text BAR | oh , no , commas | some text BAZ | some text QUX some,text,FOO{3} | some text BAR*? | "one" two | some , text , QUX #### some text foo | some text BAR | oh | some text BAZ | some text QUX some text foo | some text BAR | no | some text BAZ | some text QUX some text foo | some text BAR | commas | some text BAZ | some text QUX some| some text BAR*? | "one" two | some some| some text BAR*? | "one" two | text some| some text BAR*? | "one" two | QUX text| some text BAR*? | "one" two | some text| some text BAR*? | "one" two | text text| some text BAR*? | "one" two | QUX FOO{3} | some text BAR*? | "one" two | some FOO{3} | some text BAR*? | "one" two | text FOO{3} | some text BAR*? | "one" two | QUX