note Not_a_Number <blockquote><c>$this_word =~ s/[[:punct:]]//g;</c></blockquote> <p>The only problem with that approach is that it removes internal punctuation (ie apostrophes) as well, so that <i>I'll</i> becomes <i>ill</i>, <i>she'd</i> becomes <i>shed</i>, etc. ('Why was Virgina Woolf so obsessed with sheds?' I hear someone ask.)</p> <p>I'd use this instead:</p> <c>$this_word =~ s/^[[:punct:]]+//; # Remove leading punct. $this_word =~ s/[[:punct:]]+$//; # Remove trailing punct. </c> <p>Update: added Virginia Woolf sentence.</p> 947041 947091