note patrickhaller I used to (before use strict) compose regexps by hiding the components inside an if, e.g.: <code> $complex_re = /^($ip) ($host) ($msg)$/ if ( $ip = /\d+\.\d+\.\d+\.\d+/, $host = /[\-\.\w]+/, $msg = /.*/ ); </code> Nowadays, I use strict and eval, e.g. <code> my $complex_re = eval { my $ip = qr/\d+\.\d+\.\d+\.\d+/; my $host = qr/[\-\.\w]+/; my $msg = qr/.*/; return /^($ip) ($host) ($msg)$/; ); </code> We pay about a 5% penalty for the eval when we use this in a tight loop, however we can solve that by moving the regexp creation outside the loop. <code> Rate with eval without eval with eval 116279/s -- -5% without eval 121951/s 5% -- </code> Patrick 383015 383015