use strict; use warnings; my $re0; my $re1; $re1 = qr/ (\d) (?{ print("[$-[0]]\n") }) /x; $re0 = qr/ (??{ $re1 }) (??{ $re1 }) /x; 'thr3.3' =~ $re0; __END__ output ====== [3] [5]