my %ch = ('green' => 'lousy', 'blue' => 'cool', 'pink' => 'mini',) ; my $str = 'I have a green hat, blue shirt, plus a pink jacket'; print $str . "\n" ; my $keyList = '('. (join '|', keys %ch) . ')'; my $regex = qr/$keyList/; $str =~ s/$regex/$ch{$1}/g; print $str ;