Its even simpler than that , append 

say "BUT YOU CAN USE LESS OF THEM :) OR LEARN FROM s/// ";
$trim = join '-',  $orig =~ m{(\w{1,4})\w*}g;
say Dumper $want, $trim ;

[download]

and get extra output 

BUT YOU CAN USE LESS OF THEM :) OR LEARN FROM s///
$want = 'Appl-iPho-4-Blac-Cove';
$trim = 'Appl-iPho-4-Blac-Cove';

[download]

In reply to Re^4: Retain first 4 characters of a string by Anonymous Monk
in thread Retain first 4 characters of a string by perlnoobster

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