Something like this?

sub func_w {
    print "Called: func_w(@_)\n";
}

sub func_x {
    print "Called: func_x(@_)\n";
}

my %function = (
    w => \&func_w,
    x => \&func_x,
);


my $data = "blah[x(foo|bar|baz)] blah[w(boo|far|faz)]";

while ( $data =~ / \[ (.) \( ([^)]*) \) \]/gx ) {
    my $name = $1;
    my @args = split /\|/, $2;
    $function{ $name }->(@args);
}
[download]

-sauoq
"My two cents aren't worth a dime.";