for my $string ('CN=ext.Group.eso,OU=External,OU=ExDistriGroups,OU=Acc
+ounts,DC=eso,DC=local',
                'CN=ext.Group.test,OU=External,OU=ExDistriGroups,OU=Ac
+counts,DC=eso,DC=local',
                'CN=ext.Group."MY TERM",OU=External,OU=ExDistriGroups,
+OU=Accounts,DC=eso,DC=local',
               ) {
    my ($term) = $string =~ /CN=ext\.Group\.([^,]+)/;
    print "Found: $term\n";
}
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See perlre and perlop for details.

thats exactly what i need, but how does it work if the list of "CN=...." is an array?

Can you give us an example of what such a record would look like?

It helps to remember that the primary goal is to drain the swamp even when you are hip-deep in alligators.

If I understand you correctly, you want to extract the "CN" term from the record string. Here is a somewhat brute-force approach but I think it demonstrates the principle you need to see.

# assuming you have a record string in $record and the field order is
# always the same.
my @fields = split(/\,/, $record);
my $group = $fields[0];

# do this if you need to strip the "CN=" from the field
$group =~ s/^CN=//;

print $group . "\n";
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Given this and your prior question about storing multiple values in a single DB column, I think you should read up on Perl regex, split and join as well as other basic text processing functions. Perl excels at this kind of work, but you need to know what tools you have available.

sorry for my stupid questions but i'm actually no programmer ;), For example i have something like that:

my @member = $entry->get_value ('memberOf');
 my @memberof = grep(/\CN=ext\.Group\.([^,]+)/,@member);
  $member = join(',',@memberof);
  
 print "$uid -- $member\n";
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This code gives me the following output: Michael Douglas -- CN=ext.Group.eso,OU=External,OU=ExDistriGroups,OU=Accounts,DC=eso,DC=local,CN=ext.Group.test,OU=External,OU=ExDistriGroups,OU=Accounts,DC=eso,DC=local,CN=ext.Group.test1,OU=External,OU=ExDistriGroups,OU=Accounts,DC=eso,DC=local,CN=ext.Group.test2,OU=External,OU=ExDistriGroups,OU=Accounts,DC=eso,DC=local What i want is: Michael Douglas -- eso, test, test1, test2 Thanks Andy

map instead of grep was the solution for me, thank you hdb !! Tanks to all ;)

Update:It seems I've misread your request, you do not want to replace anything. Ignore the answer below.

Your specification isn't quite right, if you replace "eso" with "my term" you'll break the DC part of your LDAP connection string.

Specify a groupname, identify the strings you wish to replace e.g. "Group.eso", rather than all the "eso"s, use a regex to replace them:

#!/usr/bin/perl

use strict;
use warnings;

my $groupname = "derp";

my %replaceGroups = (
    "Group.test" => "Group.$groupname",
    "Group.eso"  => "Group.$groupname",
);

my $regex = join "|", keys %replaceGroups;
$regex = qr/$regex/;

# both cnstrings for testing.
my $cnstring = "CN=ext.Group.eso,OU=External,OU=ExDistriGroups,OU=Acco
+unts,DC=eso,DC=local";
#my $cnstring = "CN=ext.Group.test,OU=External,OU=ExDistriGroups,OU=Ac
+counts,DC=eso,DC=local";

$cnstring =~ s/($regex)/$replaceGroups{$1}/g;

print "$cnstring\n";
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Output:

CN=ext.Group.derp,OU=External,OU=ExDistriGroups,OU=Accounts,DC=eso,DC=
+local
[download]

Update: fixed spelling mistake.