#!perl

use strict;
use warnings;

my $string = "I don't know what to do ** when I do this";
if ($string =~ /(.*?\*\*.*?)(\b[a-zA-Z']+\b)/) {
   print "Match <$2> at offset " . length($1) . $/;
} else {
   print "No match" . $/;
}
my @chars = (split //, $2);
@chars = @chars[0..9] if (@chars > 10);
print join(' - ', @chars) . $/;
__END__
OUTPUT:
Match <when> at offset 27
w - h - e - n