/(....)...(...)...((??{foo()}))....(...)/ ^ ^ ^ ^ 1 2 3 4 #### use Modern::Perl; my $str = 'abcd$$$$$ef'; my @caps = $str =~ /(a)b(c)d((??{'(.)' x 5}))e(f)/; say join(', ', @caps); #### 18:33 >perl 504_SoPW.pl a, c, $$$$$, f 18:38 >