foo(); foo(); foo(); sub foo { my $window = "a b X20 c X5 d e X17 X12"; my @o; my @m = ($window =~ m/(X\d+(?{push @o, pos()}))/g); print join(" ", "Matches:", @m, "\n"); print join(" ", "Offsets:", @o, "\n\n"); } #### Matches: X20 X5 X17 X12 Offsets: 7 12 20 24 Matches: X20 X5 X17 X12 Offsets: Matches: X20 X5 X17 X12 Offsets: