#!/usr/bin/perl use warnings; use strict; my $bug_fix_msg = "this 33,44 is a fix for mybug44,99 real \ bug 99 again bug33r bug1722,3 bUg:99, \ bugs:456, 17, 24 bugs 42,58 bug: 50,50 \ buggy99 bug3,:8,34 bug,,49 bug,84 bug:s12"; print "test string: $bug_fix_msg\n\nFiltered:\n"; my %unique; while ( $bug_fix_msg =~ /\bbugs?:?(?!,)([\s\d,]*)\b/ig ) { print "$1\n"; $unique{ $_ }++ for $1 =~ /\d+/g; } print ("End Filtered\n\n"); my @sorted = sort { $a <=> $b } keys %unique; print " unique: @{[keys %unique]}\n"; print " sorted: @sorted\n";