By "my method" I meant using capturing parentheses and $1 to retrieve the match, instead of $#-.

Sorry for any misunderstanding. My quibble was with your use of a dispatch table, not with the rest of your code.

But regardless of that, what's the problem with a long dispatch table?

I have no issue with the use of dispatch tables per se, long or otherwise. What I meant to point out was that there is absolutely no need for a dispatch table in the context of the OP.

dave