use strict;
my $str = ' 1. object{one="ab-vwxc",two="value1",key="abcd-eest-ed-xyz-bnn",four="obsoleteValues"}
2. object{one="ab-vwxc",two="value1",key="abcd-eest-xyz-bnn",four="obsoleteValues"}
3. object{one="ab-vwxc",two="value1",key="abcd-eest-xyz-bnn-ed",four="obsoleteValues"}
4. object{one="ab-vwxc",two="value1",key="abcd-e-xyz-bnn",four="obsoleteValues"}
5. object{one="ab-vwxc",two="value1",key="ktm-bb-abcd-e-xyz-bnn",four="obsoleteValues"}
6. object{one="ab-vwxc",two="value1",key="ktm-bb-abcd-ed-xyz-bnn",four="obsoleteValues"}
';
my $regex = qr`\bkey="((?:ktm(?:-e|-(?:[^e\W]|e[^d\W])\w*)*-)?abcd(?:-e|-(?:[^e\W]|e[^d\W])\w*)*)"`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