I could use a push in the right direction ;) {my $a='%%hforecastdate%%'; $a=~s/^(d+)(dd)s+?(wws+?w+).+$/$1:$2 $3/; $a; } Output is: 9:56 AM CST How would I get "as of" to appear before the 9 Also, anyone have some good links for intro's to perl?