use strict;
my $str = 'structure NAME_PART_1
Some content
block NAME_PART_2
Some other content
end NAME_PART_2
block NAME_PART_3
subblock NAME_PART_4
Some content++
end NAME_PART_4
end NAME_PART_3
end NAME_PART_1
structure
NAME_PART_5
end NAME_PART_5';
my $regex = qr/structure\s+([\w.-]+)\s*((?:(?!end\s+\1)[\s\S])*)end\s+\1/mp;
if ( $str =~ /$regex/g ) {
print "Whole match is ${^MATCH} and its start/end positions can be obtained via \$-[0] and \$+[0]\n";
# print "Capture Group 1 is $1 and its start/end positions can be obtained via \$-[1] and \$+[1]\n";
# print "Capture Group 2 is $2 ... and so on\n";
}
# ${^POSTMATCH} and ${^PREMATCH} are also available with the use of '/p'
# Named capture groups can be called via $+{name}
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