regex - Regexp not matching when the string contains a space -

i have following rule match pattern in string.

2 alphanumeric characters, followed 0 or 1 alphabets, followed 0 or more spaces, followed 1 4 digits

i tried regexp, still missing out few cases.

here code:

#!/usr/bin/perl use strict; use warnings; @quer = ('a1q 1234', '11 asdd', 'as 11aa', 'asdasdasd', 'asdd as', 'asdasd asdassdasd', '11 1231', '11 12345', '345 1 1231', '12a 123', 'ab 12', 'ab12'); foreach $query (@quer) {     if ($query =~ m/\b[a-za-z0-9]{2}[a-za-z]{0,1}\s*\b[0-9]{1,4}\b/) {         print "matched : $query\n";     } else {         print "doesn't match : $query\n";     } } 

my code matching ab 12 not ab12, according rule, should match both.

you having word boundary in middle, screwing regex. remove it:

if ($query =~ m/\b[a-za-z0-9]{2}[a-za-z]{0,1}\s*\b[0-9]{1,4}\b/)                                                  ^                                              remove 

should be:

if ($query =~ m/\b[a-za-z0-9]{2}[a-za-z]?\s*[0-9]{1,4}\b/) 

note, [a-za-z]{0,1} same [a-za-z]?