my %symbols = ( '/' => [], '*' => [], '-' => [], ); $_= "This is a perl script/program."; push @{ $symbols{ '/' }}, m!(\s*[/]\s*)!; push @{ $symbols{ '*' }}, m!(\s*[*]\s*)!; push @{ $symbols{ '-' }}, m!(\s*[-]\s*)!; my $target= "C'est un perl script / programme"; $target =~ s!\s*([/*-])\s*!shift $symbols{ $1 }!ge;