use strict;
my $str = 'city=A(100,80);
city=B(160,70);
city=C(110,50);
city=D(140,120);
city=F(155,40);
city=G(210,60);
city=H(190,10);
city=I(170,110);
route=A-C;140;
route=A-D;155;
route=C-F;125;
route=D-B;115;
route=D-I;152;
route=B-F;119;
route=B-G;136;
route=G-F;133;
route=F-H;163;
route=I-H;197;';
my $regex = qr/(?:city|route)=(\w+)(?:\(|\-)(\w+)(?:\,|\;)(\w+)/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