use strict;
my $str = '<c:out value="${tmpChannel.channel.name}" />
<h4><c:out value="${tmpChannel.channel.name}"></c:out></h4>
<h4><a href="${homeLinkUrl}"><c:out></a></h4>
<h4><c:out value="${tmpChannel.channel.name}" /></h4>';
my $regex = qr/<c:out\s*?value\s*?=\s*?\"\$\{([^\"]+?)\}\"\s*?(?:\><\/c:out>|\/\>)/ip;
my $subst = '${\\1}';
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