use Parse::RecDescent; my $teststr="blah1,blah2(blah3,blah4(blah5,blah6(blah7))),blah8"; my $grammar = q { content: /[^\)\(\,]+/ function: content '(' list ')' value: content item: function | value list: item ',' list | item startrule: list }; my $parser = new Parse::RecDescent ($grammar) or die "Bad grammar!\n"; defined $parser->startrule($teststr) or print "Bad text!\n";