my @chars = ('A','D'); my $string = join '', map $chars[ rand @chars ], 1 .. 20; my $den = 'DA'; my @positions; while ( $string =~ /$den/g ) { push @positions, pos( $string ) - length $den; } if ( @positions ) { print "'$den' was found at offsets @positions\n"; } else { print "DA is not present\n\n\n"; } print +(0 .. 9) x 5, "\n"; print "$string\n"; #### 'DA' was found at offsets 2 5 7 10 01234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789 ADDAADADADDAAAAAAAAA