my $sentence = 'Sam goes to school to play football.';

substr($sentence, $_, 0) = '**' for 35, 27, 18, 12;

print $sentence, "\n";

##</code><code>##

$sentence =~ s/(school)/**\1**/;

##</code><code>##

my $sentence = 'Sam goes to school to play football.';

# Count the spaces and add 1
my $count1 = substr($sentence, 0, 12) =~ y/ // + 1;