use strict;
my $str = 'pdf_of_filename_53613785621.183761237_127.10.10.0_8726347.xls';
my $regex = qr/^(.*)_([12]?\d{1,2}\.){3}[12]?\d{1,2}_\d+\.([a-z]{3,4})$/ip;
my $subst = '\\1.\\3';
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