use strict;
my $str = '1-1-2015 23:59:59';
my $regex = qr/^((((31[- /.](0?[13578]|1[02]))|((29|30)[- /.](0?[1,3-9]|1[0-2])))[- /.](1[6-9]|[2-9]\d)?\d{2})|(29\/0?2[- /.](((1[6-9]|[2-9]\d)?(0[48]|[2468][048]|[13579][26])|((16|[2468][048]|[3579][26])00))))|(0?[1-9]|1\d|2[0-8])[- /.]((0?[1-9])|(1[0-2]))[- /.]((1[6-9]|[2-9]\d)?\d{2})) (20|21|22|23|[0-1]?\d):[0-5]?\d:?[0-5]?\d$/p;
if ( $str =~ /$regex/ ) {
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