foreach(@col){ my $celldata=$_; $celldata=~s/<(set|x)?aln;(.*?)>//g; $celldata=~s/<(rct|rrt|rlt)?;(.*?)>//g; $celldata=~s/()//g; #print "$celldata\n"; if($celldata=~m{(.+?)$operator(.*)}){ $left_str=$1; $right_str=$2; print "$left_str === $operator === $right_str\n"; } }