@-, @+ 

$_ = '-XXX--XXXXXXXXX...XXXXXXWW--WWW.WWWZZZ---ZZZWW..W-.-WWWWWXXX';

printf "%s-%s: %s\n", $-[0]+1, $+[0], $1
    while /[.-]*([^.-])(?:\1|[.-])*/g;

[download]
1-24: X
25-35: W
36-44: Z
45-57: W
58-60: X

[download]

Update: Bug fix. (Wasn't including leading "-" and "." characters.)

In reply to Re: How to deal with such strings? by ikegami
in thread How to deal with such strings? by Anonymous Monk

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