c:\@Work\Perl>perl -wMstrict -le "my $s = 'int ant aunt'; print qq{'$s'}; ;; my $n = 3; $s =~ s{ (int) }{ qq{$1 } x $n }xmsge; print qq{'$s'}; ;; $s =~ s{ (ant \s+) }{$1$1}xmsg; print qq{'$s'}; " 'int ant aunt' 'int int int ant aunt' 'int int int ant ant aunt'