use strict;
my $str = 'this is a sample\\\\nstring\\\\\\\\ncontaining\\nall cases\\n\\\\n\\n\\\\\\n!
this is a sample<br>string\\\\\\\\ncontaining<br>all cases<br><br><br>!';
my $regex = qr/(?<!\\)\\{1,2}n/p;
my $subst = '<br>';
my $result = $str =~ s/$regex/$subst/rg;
print "The result of the substitution is' $result\n";
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