$string = 'my name is mister smith'; if($string =~ /(mr\.|mister (\w+))/){ # if the string contains either 'mr.' or # 'mister', then a space, then some word chars # matching for instance 'mister jones' but not # 'hey mister!' print "surname is $2"; # $1 contains the whole thing, $2 just the surname } #### $text='Learning Perl? http://www.perlmonks.org/ is the place'; $text =~ s!(http://\S+) (\s+<([^>]+)>)? ! defined($3)? qq($3): qq($1) !gex; print $text; #### ($_='kkvvttuubbooppuuiiffssqqffssmmiibbddllffss') =~y~b-v~a-z~s; print