use strict;
my $str = 'Lorem ipsum mark> <MARK >dolor</MARK > < mark sitamet. <mark>Lorem</mark> ipsum again and <mark>dolor</mark>.
um <mark>dolor</mark> sit amet. <mark>Lorem</mark> ipsum again and <mark>dolor</mark>.
um <mark>dolor</mark> sit <test amet. <mark>Lorem</mark> ipsum again and <mark>dolor</mark>.
Lorem ipsum <MARK >dolor</MARK > sit <mark>amet.</mark><mark>Lorem</mark> ipsum again and <mark>dolor</mark>.';
my $regex = qr/((?:(?!<[/]mark\s*>).){0,5})<mark\s*>([^<]*)<[/]mark\s*>(?=((?:(?!<mark\s*>).){0,5}))/ip;
my $subst = '\\n$1 $2 $3\\n';
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