use strict;
my $str = ' <div class="input select">
<label for="countries">User Country</label>
<select name="countries" id="countries">
<option value="">Select a country</option>
<option value="ger">Germany</option>
<option value="fra">France</option>
<option value="rus" selected="selected">Russia</option>
</select>
</div>';
my $regex = qr/(( *\n+|\A) *)/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