my $url = 'http://www.somelink.com';
my %translation = (
    '.' => ' (dot) '  ,
    '/' => ' (slash) ',
    ':' => ' (colon) ',
);
foreach my $key ( keys %translation ) {
    $url =~ s/\Q$key\E/$translation{$key}/g;
}
print $url, "\n";