use strict;
my $str = 'name = \'benjo\' and (surname = \'benny\' or surname = \'bennie\') or age = 4
or
name = \'benjo\' and (surname = \'benny\' or surname = \'bennie\') or (age = 4 or age = 6)
and
(name = \'benjo\' or name=\'xxx\') and (surname = \'benny\' or surname = \'bennie\') or age = 4';
my $regex = qr/(?(DEFINE)
(?<string>'[^']++')
(?<int>\b\d+\b)
(?<sp>\s*)
(?<key>\b\w+\b)
(?<value>(?&string)|(?&int))
(?<exp>(?&key) (?&sp) = (?&sp) (?&value))
(?<logic>\b (?:and|or) \b)
(?<main>
(?<token> \( (?&sp) (?&main) (?&sp) \) | (?&exp) )
(?:
(?&sp) (?&logic) (?&sp)
(?&token)
)*
)
)
(?:
^ (?&sp) (?= (?&main) (?&sp) $ )
|
(?!^) \G
(?&sp) (?&logic) (?&sp)
)
(?:
\( (?&sp) (?<m_main>(?&main)) (?&sp) \)
|
(?<m_key>(?&key)) (?&sp) = (?&sp) (?<m_value>(?&value))
)/xp;
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