my $rx = qr/(@{[ join '|', map quotemeta, keys %m_info ]})/; #### my $rx = qr/@{ [ join '|', map "(\Q$_->[0]\E)", @m_info ] }/; for my $record (@data) { if (my @match = $record->[1] =~ $regex) { my ($m) = grep defined $match[$_], 0 .. $#match; $record->[1] = join "_", $m_info[$m]->[3], $m_info[$m]->[1]; } }