use strict;
my $test = "This is a sample string of text";
my $tost = $test;
$test =~ s/(\w)(\w+)(\w)/$1&garble($2)$3/g;

print "ONE: $test\n";
print 'TWO: '.&garble($tost);

sub garble {
  # garbles the middle of a word leaving the first and last characters alone eg hello -> hlelo
  my $ret = '';
  my @txt = split(/\s/,$_[0]);
  foreach my $word (@txt){
    if($word =~ m/(\w)(\w+)(\w)/){
      my $start = $1;
      my $mid   = reverse $2 ;
      my $end   = $3;
      $ret .= $start.$mid.$end.' ';
    }else{
      $ret .= $word.' ';
    }
  }
  return $ret;
}

# ONE: T?{&garble(hi)}s is a s?{&garble(ampl)}e s?{&garble(trin)}g of t?{&garble(ex)}t
# TWO: Tihs is a slpmae snirtg of txet 

##</code><code>##

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