use strict;
my $str = 'STOP VERB NOUN NOUN DASH NOUN PUNCT
STOP VERB STOP ADJ ADJ NOUN STOP STOP ADJ NOUN COMMA NOUN PUNCT
STOP VERB STOP ADJ COMMA ADJ NOUN PUNCT
STOP STOP ADJ DASH ADJ NOUN PUNCT
STOP STOP STOP ADJ NOUN NOUN STOP STOP PUNCT';
my $regex = qr/(ADJ (COMMA ADJ )*)*(NOUN (DASH NOUN )*(DASH )?)*NOUN/mp;
if ( $str =~ /$regex/g ) {
print "Whole match is ${^MATCH} and its start/end positions can be obtained via \$-[0] and \$+[0]\n";
# print "Capture Group 1 is $1 and its start/end positions can be obtained via \$-[1] and \$+[1]\n";
# print "Capture Group 2 is $2 ... and so on\n";
}
# ${^POSTMATCH} and ${^PREMATCH} are also available with the use of '/p'
# Named capture groups can be called via $+{name}
Please keep in mind that these code samples are automatically generated and are not guaranteed to work. If you find any syntax errors, feel free to submit a bug report. For a full regex reference for Perl, please visit: http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html