#! /usr/local/bin/perl -w use strict; my $REs = [ qr/(?: EUR1)[^,]+/, qr/(?: EUR2)[^,]+/, qr/(?: EUR3)[^,]+/, qr/(?: EUR4)[^,]+/, qr/(?: EUR8)[^,]+/, qr/(?: EUR0\.)[^,]+/, qr/(?: CHF10)[^,]+/, qr/(?: Y5)[^,]+/, qr/(?: NV )[^,]+/, qr/(?:NON-CUM)[^,]+/, qr/(?: LTD)[^,]+/, qr/(?: FIN )[^,]+/, qr/(?: INTL)[^,]+/, qr/(?:\$)[^,]+/, qr/(?:\s+$)/ ]; my $string = "a INTL , b Y5c, NV , d e f... & & CO FIN "; my $return = &format($REs, $string); print ">$string<\n"; print ">$return<\n"; exit; sub format { my $REs = shift; my $string = shift; study $string; $string =~ s/(?: & CO )[^,]+/ AND CO/; $string =~ s/&/AND/g; for (@{$REs}) { $string =~ s/$_//; } return $string; }