#!/usr/bin/perl -w my $string = '/path/file.htm?849578345908543095364b892a898374aff8490001289384add90e93448a839457582993cde90239a90459c3849aa8374f783477346723f38923487dd8923847a892837f783746543ff89283a439823cd948399134452&access_rights=1&mn_ord=yes&session_id=84'; $string =~ s/[^ a-zA-Z0-9_=&\-]/sprintf("\\%s", $&)/eg; # #escape chars print "$string\n"; #debug $string =~ s/([A-Za-z0-9][^&\/\.]){10,}/sprintf(".*", $&)/eg; $string =~ s/([0-9]){2,}/sprintf("\\d+", $&)/eg; print "\n$string\n";#debug