I just realilzed I had a typo, which is why it didn't work, Duh!

Just in case you're curious, from s/$first(.*?)$last/$reserve/s;
I took out "(.*?)$last" and tried it, worked in a funny way.
so I tried it without the "$first(.*?)" instead, and it failed completely.

So looking at my actual code, I found a space between the used example: "/ span>" for $last.

So the little things will get ya if you are not getting enough sleep :)

Thank you very much for building my confidence with the way I was sure to be right with previous help from all you perl monks.