One relatively simple way to accomplish this would be to use subrefs with the 'e' switch (though I'd still use a parser instead):

    #!/usr/bin/perl -w
    use strict;

    my $foo = sub { "$1 years ago" };
    my $bar = 'Four score and perhaps seven';

    $bar =~ s/perhaps (seven)/&$foo/e;
    print $bar;
[download]

Cheers,
Ovid

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