my @list= qw(first_string second_string); @list = map((s/_string$// and $_), @list); print @list; #### >perl -wMstrict -le "my @list= qw(first_string second_string THIRD fourth_string); @list = map((s/_string$// and $_), @list); printf qq{'$_' } for @list; " 'first' 'second' '' 'fourth'