use strict;
my $str = '02 APR
APR 02
2 APR
APR 2
2nd APR
APR 2nd
2nd April
April 2nd
APR 12th
April 12th
12th April
April 13-16
13-16 April
APR 13-16
13-16 APR
April 13th-16th
13th-16th April
APR 13th-16th
13th-16th APR';
my $regex = qr/(\d+)(?:st|[nr]d|th)?-?(\d*)(?:st|[nr]d|th)?\s*Apr(?:il)?|Apr(?:il)?\s*(\d+)(?:st|[nr]d|th)?-?(\d*)(?:st|[nr]d|th)?/ip;
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