#!/usr/bin/perl my $s = 'Tue Feb 8 11:11:11 2005: blah blah blah'; my $regex = '/^$wday $mon\s+$mday \d{2}:\d{2}:\d{2} $year:'; my $wday = 'Tue'; my $mon = 'Feb'; my $mday = '8'; my $year = '2005'; findString($s); sub findString($) { my $line = shift; print "found\n" if $line =~ /$regex/; }