use strict; my $mystring = "AABAABAA"; my @array; {} while $mystring =~ /A(?=ABAA)(?{push @array, pos($mystring)})/g; print join(",", @array),"\n"; #or without any fancy "experimental" regex stuff @array=(); while ($mystring =~ /A(?=ABAA)/g) { push @array, pos($mystring) } print join(",", @array),"\n"; __OUTPUTS__ 1,4 1,4