use strict;
my $str = 'h.e.ll.o w.o.r.l.d
=> hello world
h.e.ll.o w.o.r.l.d
=> hello world
hello. world
=> hello. world';
my $regex = qr/(?<!\s)\.(?!\s)/mp;
my $subst = '';
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