use strict;
my $str = '<Profile sr="prof101" ve="2">
<flags>2</flags>
<Event sr="con0" ve="2">
</Event>
<App sr="con1" ve="2">
</App>
</Profile>
<Profile sr="prof102" ve="2">
<flags>2</flags>
<Event sr="con0" ve="2">
</Event>
<App sr="con1" ve="2">
</App>
</Profile>
<Profile sr="prof103" ve="2">
<flags>2</flags>
<limit>true</limit>
<Event sr="con0" ve="2">
</Event>
<App sr="con1" ve="2">
</App>
</Profile>
<Profile sr="prof104" ve="2">
<flags>2</flags>
<Event sr="con0" ve="2">
</Event>
<App sr="con1" ve="2">
</App>
</Profile>';
my $regex = qr/(?<=<\/Profile>|^)((?!<\/Profile)[\s\S])*?(<limit>)[\s\S]*?(<\/Profile>)/p;
if ( $str =~ /$regex/g ) {
print "Whole match is ${^MATCH} and its start/end positions can be obtained via \$-[0] and \$+[0]\n";
# print "Capture Group 1 is $1 and its start/end positions can be obtained via \$-[1] and \$+[1]\n";
# print "Capture Group 2 is $2 ... and so on\n";
}
# ${^POSTMATCH} and ${^PREMATCH} are also available with the use of '/p'
# Named capture groups can be called via $+{name}
Please keep in mind that these code samples are automatically generated and are not guaranteed to work. If you find any syntax errors, feel free to submit a bug report. For a full regex reference for Perl, please visit: http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html