Hi, thanks a lot for the reply
actually I am working with text in another language,
not English text.I gave that example in my post just to
state the problem(or so I thought).I had not at all tested
with english text.

In fact my code as well works with the english text file:

x.txt

try **until **you **succeed
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but strangely does not work for my text file which looks
like this, if the display is set to an english font:

y.txt

]]»  **]X»]»   **]Eõ]»    ]]»»
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In this case only the first character next to the 2nd
asterisk is printed:

$result: 1.4
$start: 1.6

The word:
]
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I need the whole word to be printed that is:

]X»]»
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What I then need to do is change the font color of
the word so that it stands out in the widget window,
and delete the **'s.
I need to present the text in the Tk widget as a user
interface.The user clicks a button, certain words get
marked by the asterisks.But instead of the asterisks,
I now want to change the font color of the words instead.

I'm not sure how I can search within a widget window
using regexps.

here's my actual code, with a whole lot of it not relevant
to this question omitted.

#!/usr/local/bin/perl -w

use Tk;
#use strict;                

our($filename, $info);                 #Variables to be used in the su
+bs &load_file and &save_file.  
                                       #$filename stores the file name
+ typed by the user in the entry widget of the main window.
                                       #$info stores the text message 
+displayed at the bottom of the main window.
                                       
my $mw = MainWindow->new;              # Main window.    
                                       # Create necessary widgets.
                                       
my $f = $mw->Frame->pack(-side => 'top', -fill => 'x');               
+  #Create frame.

$f->Label(-text => "Filename:")->pack(-side => 'left', -anchor => 'w')
+; # Label widget.

$f->Entry(-textvariable => \$filename)->pack(-side => 'left', -anchor 
+=> 'w', -fill => 'x', -expand => 1); # Entry widget.

                                                                      
+ #Button widgets.

$f->Button(-text => "Sug", -command =>\&tged)->pack(-side => 'right');
+                             

$f->Button(-text => "Save", -command => \&save_file)->pack(-side => 'r
+ight', -anchor => 'e');

$f->Button(-text => "Load", -command => \&load_file)->pack(-side => 'r
+ight', -anchor => 'e');

$f->Button(-text => "Det",-command => \&chfile )->pack(-side => 'right
+', -anchor => 'e');

$f->Button(-text => "Show",-command => \&load_file)->pack(-side => 'ri
+ght', -anchor => 'e');

$f->Button(-text => "Add?",-command => \&addit)->pack(-side => 'right'
+, -anchor => 'e');


$mw->Label(-textvariable => \$info, -relief => 'ridge')->pack(-side =>
+ 'bottom', -fill => 'x');     # Label widget.

                                                        #Text widget. 
+       

my $t = $mw->Scrolled("Text",-font=>"{as-ttdurga} 24 {bold}")->pack(-s
+ide => 'bottom', -fill => 'both', -expand => 1);

MainLoop;
                                                                      
+             


                                      
  sub chfile
  {
  
  open LEX, 'soundex.txt' or die $!;   
  my %lexicon;                       
  
  while(<LEX>){
  chomp;
  my @words =split;                   
  @lexicon{@words} = (1) x @words;    
  }
  
  close LEX;
  
  open FILE, "+<$filename" or die $!; 
  my @missing;                         
  my @data;                           
  
  while(<FILE>){
  push @missing, grep { ! $lexicon{$_} } split;
  push @data,split; 
  }
  
  #print @missing;
  #print "\n@data";
  
    
  seek FILE, 0, 0; # go to start of file 
  truncate FILE, 0; 
                                   
      foreach $ditem(@data){
          $_ = process($_); 
          print FILE;          
              print FILE " ";
              foreach $mitem(@missing) { 
                      my $currentposition=tell FILE; 
                      seek FILE,0,1 ;               
                     if ($mitem eq $ditem){         
                      syswrite FILE,"**",4 ;         
                                                               
              #print"\n$mitem";
                          
          $result=$t->search(-forwards,"**",'end');
              
         # print"\nThe start pos of the pattern:";
             # print "\n$result";
              
              $start=$result+.2;
              #print "\n$start";
              
        @chars=$t->get("$start","$start wordend");
              print "\nThe word:";
              print"\n@chars";
                
         #$t->tagConfigure("wrong",-foreground=>"red"); 
          #$t->tagAdd("wrong","$start","$start wordend");   
                      }    
                 }
               }  
  close FILE;
  
  sub process {      
          return($ditem);
                 
              }
  }
  1;
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What is the alternative to using the 'wordend' index? That does not seem to work here. Thanx