$html =~ s|(<[aA]\b # ]*\b # any attributes [hH][rR][eE][fF]=\"? # href= [mM][aA][iI][lL][tT][oO]: # mailto: ([^\"\s<>]+) # EMAIL \"? # href closed [^<>]* # any attributes > # anchor closed (.+?) # TEXT ) # |antispamize($1, $2, $3)|sgex; sub antispamize { my($anchor, $email, $text) = @_; #$email =~ s/@/{at}/g; #$text =~ s/@/{at}/g; my $anchor = ""; ## may be you want to add this #$anchor .= ""; return $anchor; }