use Modern::Perl; use Regexp::Assemble; my @searches = qw/tcgtat gctgga/; my $ra = Regexp::Assemble->new; $ra->add( "$_.*" ) for @searches; $ra = $ra->re; while () { chomp; s/$ra//; say if $_; } __DATA__ xxtcgtatccgaggga cgcgcgggggagg jjsjjjjsjjjdtcgtat aaaaaaacccaaan ggtcgtatffaadda gggctggalllslllssdkk