my %data = (); $data{b_slash_car_bit_slash_tebla_bit} = b/car[10]/tebla[9] $data{b_slash_car_bit_slash_tesla_bit } = b/car[10]/tesla[0] b/car[9].tesla[1]; my $var1 = "b/car[*]/te*a"; $var1 =~ s/\//_slash_/g; $var1 =~ s/\[\*\]/\_bit_/g; if (defined $data{$var1}) {print "YES";} else {print "No";}