#!/usr/bin/perl -l

use strict;
use warnings;

my @full_authors = ( "Smith, John", "Smith, John Ronald", "Johnson, Ja
+mes", "James, Ray Jack", "Van der Burg, Jon", "O'Neil, Sarah" );
my @authors = ( "Smith J", "Jackson J", "James RJ", "Van der Burg J", 
+"O'Neil S" );

$, = " & ";


foreach my $a (@authors) {
  my ($f, $s) = $a =~ m/(.*)\s+(\w+)$/; # This regex will put everythi
+n before the last space in $f, and everything after the space in $s
  # Example: if $a is James RJ, then $f is 'James', and $s 'RJ'

  my @g       = split //, $s; # Split the last charachter, so that eac
+h element in the @g-array is one letter

  $f = quotemeta($f); # Remove all special thingies of $f, like a . an
+d a space (needed because the /x modifier is in use)
  

  my $p = join('\w+\s+', @g);
  # Join the letters together, and add the regex charachter \w+\s+, me
+aning that RJ will become R\w+\s+J (which is used in the regex)

  my @x = grep (m/
    ^      # Match start of line 
    $f     # Match the last name
    \s*    # Match some optional whitespace
    ,      # Match a comma
    \s+    # Match some whitespace (not optinal)
    $p     # Match the second part of the name
    \w+    # Match the remaining word-charachters of this name
    \s*    # Match some optional whitespace
    $      # Match the end
   /xi, @full_authors);

  print $a, @x;
}
[download]