use strict;
my $str = '<div>
<h1>This is a html structure.</h1>
<p>This is not empty.</p>
<p></p>
<p><br /></p>
<p> <br />  </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
</div>';
my $regex = qr/<([^>\s]+)[^>]*>(?:\s*(?:<br \/>| | | | | | | )\s*)*<\/\1>/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