use strict;
my $str = '12:34 AM ACDT';
my $regex = qr/(\d+)(?:[.: ](\d\d))*\s*([aApP][.: ]?[mM][.: ]?|o['’]clock)*\s*(?:A(?:C(?:WS|[DS])?T|DT|E[DS]?T|FT|K[DS]T|LMT|M[S]?T|NAS?T|QTT|RT|ST|W[DS]T|Z(?:OS|[OS])?T|oE|T)|B(?:RS|[NORST])T|C(?:AS|ES|H(?:A[DS]|OS|[OU])|ID?S|LS|hS|[ACDEKLOSVX])?T|D(?:AV|DU)T|E(?:ASS?|ES|GS|[ACDEGS])?T|F(?:JS|KS|[EJKN])T|G(?:A[LM]|IL|[EFMSY])T|H(?:OVS?|[DKS])T|I(?:R(?:KS|[DKS])|[CDOS])T|JST|K(?:OS|RAS?|UY|[GS])T|L(?:H[DS]|IN)T|M(?:A(?:GS|[GRW])T|DT|HT|MT|S[DKT]|UT|VT|YT|T)|N(?:FD|OVS?|Z[DS]|[CDFPRSU])T|O(?:MSS?|RA)T|P(?:ETS?|HO|M[DS]|ON|YS|[DEGHKSWY])?T|QYZT|R(?:OT|E)T|S(?:A[KMS]|RE|YO|[BCGRS])T|T(?:AH|OS|[FJKLMORV])T|U(?:LAS?T|TC|YS?T|ZT)|V(?:LAS?|OS|[EU])T|W(?:A(?:RS|[KS])?T|ES?T|FT|GS?T|I(?:TA|[BT])|ST|T)|Y(?:A(?:KS|[KP])|EKS?)T|[ABCDEFGHIKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ])/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