use strict;
my $str = 'aaa.bbbb.ccc4.ddd1.eee.fff
1112.2223.333.4445.555.6661.7773.8881.999';
my $regex = qr/(?=(\.[^.]*){3}$)\.(.{3})/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