/usr/bin/perl use strict; use warnings; use lib 'blib/lib'; use Regexp::Assemble; my $r = Regexp::Assemble->new->track(1)->add(qw(foo? bar{2} [Rr]at)); for my $w (qw(this food is rather barren)) { if ($w =~ /$r/) { print "$w matched by ", $r->source($^R), $/; } else { print "$w no match\n"; } }