use strict;
my $str = 'a,{X}b,c,{Y}d
aaa,{X}2.15,100.15,{Y}-
bbb,{X}3.16,215.16,{Y}-
ccc,{X}4.10,365.18,{Y}-';
my $regex = qr/(?m)^((?:[^,\r\n]*,){X})[^,\r\n]*,((?:[^,\r\n]*,){Y})[^,\r\n]*(.*)/p;
my $subst = '$1$2$3';
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