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