use strict;
my $str = 'This is a text sample.
\'And this is a single-quoted text sample\'.
And this is another text sample.
"And this is a double-quoted text sample".
And this is another text sample.
"Nothing to do here".
And this is another text sample.
\'Nothing to do here\'.
And this is another text sample.
\'And this is another single-quoted text sample\'.
And this is another text sample.
"And this is another double-quoted text sample with a lot of a characters a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a".
';
my $regex = qr/'([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*([^a']*)a*'/ip;
my $subst = '\'\\1\\2\\3\\4\\5\\6\\7\\8\\9\\10\\11\\12\\13\\14\\15\\16\\17\\18\\19\\20\\21\\22\\23\\24\\25\\26\\27\\28\\29\\30\\31\\32\\33\\34\\35\\36\\37\\38\\39\\40\\41\\42\\43\\44\\45\\46\\47\\48\\49\\50\\51\\52\\53\\54\\55\\56\\57\\58\\59\\60\\61\\62\\63\\64\\65\\66\\67\\68\\69\\70\\71\\72\\73\\74\\75\\76\\77\\78\\79\\80\\81\\82\\83\\84\\85\\86\\87\\88\\89\\90\\91\\92\\93\\94\\95\\96\\97\\98\\99\'';
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