use strict;
my $str = '/////this///is//an////absolute//path
\\\\\\\\\\this\\\\\\is\\\\an\\\\\\\\absolute\\\\path';
my $regex = qr~^(([/\\])\2{3})\2+|([/\\])\3*~mp;
my $subst = '$1$3$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