use strict;
my $str = 'A hyphen-
ated line.
Mary Rose sat on a pin -
Mary rose.
Mary Rose sat on a pin --
Mary rose.';
my $regex = qr/([^\s-])-\n/p;
my $subst = '$1';
my $result = $str =~ s/$regex/$subst/r;
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