use strict;
my $str = 'Aaa \\cref{fig:1}. Bbb \\cref{fig:2} bbb \\cref{fig:3}. Ccc \\cref{fig:4}. Ddd \\cref{fig:5} ddd \\cref{fig:6} ddd \\cref{fig:7}. Eee \\cref{fig:5} ddd \\cref{fig:6} eee \\cref{fig:7} eeeee \\cref{fig:89} .
';
my $regex = qr~(?:\\cref\{(fig:\d+)\})(?:[^.]+?(?:\\cref\{(fig:\d+)\}))+~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