my @strings = qw( aaaaa eeeee iiiii abcde aeiou bdfhj ); my $range = 'AaEeIiOoUu'; my $alt = join '|', split //, $range; my %regexes = ( alternation => qr/$alt/, class => qr/[$range]/, lookahead => qr/([$range])((?!\1)[$range])((?!\2)[$range])((?!\3)[$range])((?!\4)[$range])/, ); foreach my $string (@strings) { print "$string:\n"; while (my ($k, $r) = each %regexes) { print "\t$k - " . ($string =~ /$r/ ? 'YES' : 'NO') . $/; } } #### aaaaa: alternation - YES class - YES lookahead - NO eeeee: alternation - YES class - YES lookahead - NO iiiii: alternation - YES class - YES lookahead - NO abcde: alternation - YES class - YES lookahead - NO aeiou: alternation - YES class - YES lookahead - YES bdfhj: alternation - NO class - NO lookahead - NO