my @a=(qw(w1 w2 w3),"[t4 w4]" ,qw(w5 w6)); m/\[(\S+)\s(\S+)\]/ ? print qq[$2 $1\n] :print qq[$_\n] for @a #### my @a=(qw(w1 w2 w3),["t4","w4"],qw(w5 w6)); ref $_ ? print "$_->[1] $_->[0]\n" :print qq[$_\n] for @a