use strict;
my $str = 'Independence Day (Observed)
Christmas Eve, Christmas Day (Observed)
New Year\'s Eve, New Year\'s Day (Observed)
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day';
my $regex = qr/^(?:.*,\s*)?\b([^,]+)\s+\(Observed\).*/mp;
my $subst = '\\1';
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