use strict;
my $str = 'sdkfjsd 12312981 sdkfjsdfhbnmawd 1298 ,smdfsdnfk2342423
sdlkfsdfs 20349 ABC1203912 2034234aac <-- ABC<number> stays, the other numbers do not
ABC1203912';
my $regex = qr/(?<!ABC)(?<!\d)\d+/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