use strict;
my $str = '<a href="http://example.com/books/1">The Lord of the Rings</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://example.com/books/1#c1" >Chapter 1</a></li>
<li><a name="name before href" href="http://example.com/books/1#c2">Chapter 2</a></li>
<li><a href="http://example.com/books/1#c3" name="name after href">Chapter 3</a></li>
<li><a href="http://example.com/books/1#cN" target="_blank">Chapter N</a></li>
</ul>
<br><br>
<a href="http://example.com/books/1">Harry Potter</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://example.com/books/2#c1" target="_self">Chapter 1</a></li>
<li><a href="http://example.com/books/2#c2" name="some have name" title="some others have title" >Chapter 2</a></li>
<li><a href="http://example.com/books/2#c3">Chapter 3</a></li>
<li><a href="http://example.com/books/2#cN" >Chapter N</a></li>
</ul>';
my $regex = qr/<a(?:\s+name=".*?")?\s+href=.*?#.*?>(.*?)<\/a>/p;
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