use strict;
my $str = '| item1 | item2 | item3 | {{Ulist1 | item4 | item5 | {{Ulist2 | item6 | item7 }} | item8 }} | item9 | {{list3 | item10 | item11 | item12 }} | item13 | item1| item1 | item2 | item3 | {{Ulist1 | item4 | item5 | {{Ulist2 | item6 | item7 }} | item8 }} | item9 | {{list3 | item10 | item11 | item12 }} | item13 | item1| item1 | item2 | item3 | {{Ulist1 | item4 | item5 | {{Ulist2 | item6 | item7 }} | item8 }} | item9 | {{list3 | item10 | item11 | item12 }} | item13 | item1| item1 | item2 | item3 | {{Ulist1 | item4 | item5 | {{Ulist2 | item6 | item7 }} | item8 }} | item9 | {{list3 | item10 | item11 | item12 }} | item13 | item1| item1 | item2 | item3 | {{Ulist1 | item4 | item5 | {{Ulist2 | item6 | item7 }} | item8 }} | item9 | {{list3 | item10 | item11 | item12 }} | item13 | item1| item1 | item2 | item3 | {{Ulist1 | item4 | item5 | {{Ulist2 | item6 | item7 }} | item8 }} | item9 | {{list3 | item10 | item11 | item12 }} | item13 | item1| item1 | item2 | item3 | {{Ulist1 | item4 | item5 | {{Ulist2 | item6 | item7 }} | item8 }} | item9 | {{list3 | item10 | item11 | item12 }} | item13 | item1| item1 | item2 | item3 | {{Ulist1 | item4 | item5 | {{Ulist2 | item6 | item7 }} | item8 }} | item9 | {{list3 | item10 | item11 | item12 }} | item13 | item1';
my $regex = qr/\{\{Ulist\d{0,}(?>[^\}\{]+|(?0))+\}}/p;
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