I think my post above has been downvoted because I use my own function and not the module mentioned above. As far as I know can it only say, if the string is in parenthesis or not, but it can not handle strings with parts in parenthesis. My function insertes XML-Tags that show matching or not matching parenthesis and much more, thats why I have to do it my own way. I just wanted to show, that Perl is very good in string handling and tasks like the one of the original poster can be done with Perl very well. I think there is no reason for downvoting. If you have a problem with that tell me, but don't downvote.