use strict;
my $str = '#life random string #life
#apple ##apple
#apple#fruit
#life #oranges #fruits #sandwiches #fruit';
my $regex = qr/(^|\s)#(\w+)/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