#!/usr/bin/env perl use strict; use warnings; use feature 'say'; my $regex = build_regex( 2, 4, 3 ); say "Regex: $regex"; my $string = "xxxx yy zzzzz xxxx qqq xxxx yy zzzzz xxxx qqq"; my @match = $string =~ /$regex/g; say "Match: @match"; sub build_regex { my ( $first, @others ) = @_; my $regex = qr{\b(\w{$first})\b}; $regex .= qr{.+?\b(\w{$_})\b} for @others; return $regex; } __END__ Regex: (?^:\b(\w{2})\b)(?^:.+?\b(\w{4})\b)(?^:.+?\b(\w{3})\b) Match: yy xxxx qqq yy xxxx qqq