#! /usr/local/bin/perl5.003 -w

  {
        my($string) = "brad<hello>3hello";
        $string =~ /^[^\d]{2,4}<([^>]+)>\d?\1$/;
        if( defined($1) ) {
                print "$1\n";
        } else {
                print "not found\n";
        }
  }