#!/usr/bin/env perl use strict; use warnings; my @exemplars = ; my $reference = shift @exemplars; print "Reference string: $reference"; for (@exemplars) { my $exemplar = $_; s/[.]{3}/.+?/g; if ($reference !~ /$_/) { print "NO MATCH: $exemplar"; } } __DATA__ Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres Gallia est omnis divisa in ... Gallia est omnis ... Gallia ... omnis divisa in ... Gallia est ... tres Gallia ... partes tres Gallia est ... partes tres Gallia ... divisa ... tres ... tres quattuor Gallia ... #### $ pm_latin_fragments.pl Reference string: Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres NO MATCH: Gallia NO MATCH: quattuor