use strict;
my $str = '"folders/folder1/folder5/../../folder2" -> "folders/folder2"
"folders/folder1/../../../folder2" -> "../folder2"
"folders/folder1/folder5/../folder2" -> "folders/folder1/folder2"';
my $regex = qr~(?<![^/])(?!\.\.(?![^/]))[^/]+/\.\.(?:/|$)~mp;
my $subst = '';
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