#!/usr/bin/perl -w use strict; while() { my @tags = ( /(\:TAG\:.*?)[(?=:)]/g ); for my $tag ( @tags ) { print "$tag\n"; } } __DATA__ :TAG: This is just some text. blahblahblahblahblahblahblah blahblahblah. blahblah? blah.:TAG: This is just some text. blahblahblahblahblahblahblah blahblahblah. blahblah? blah. :TAG: This is just some text. blahblahblahblahblahblahblah blahblahblah. blahblah? blah. :TAG: This is just some more text. blahblahblahblahblahblahblah blahblahblah. blahblah? blah.