use strict;
my $str = '<msub><mi>y</mi><mrow>(<mi>n</mi><mo>+</mo><mn>1</mn>)</mrow></msub><mo>=</mo><msub><mi>y</mi><mrow>(<mi>n</mi><mo>-</mo><mn>1</mn>)</mrow></msub><mo>*</mo><msup><mrow>(<msub><mi>y</mi><mi>n()</mi></msub>)</mrow><mrow><mn>2</mn></mrow></msup>
<mrow>(<mn>1000001</mn>)</mrow>';
my $regex = qr/<mrow[^>]*>\(?((?:(?!</?mrow\b[^>]*>).)*?)\)?</mrow>/mp;
if ( $str =~ /$regex/g ) {
print "Whole match is ${^MATCH} and its start/end positions can be obtained via \$-[0] and \$+[0]\n";
# print "Capture Group 1 is $1 and its start/end positions can be obtained via \$-[1] and \$+[1]\n";
# print "Capture Group 2 is $2 ... and so on\n";
}
# ${^POSTMATCH} and ${^PREMATCH} are also available with the use of '/p'
# Named capture groups can be called via $+{name}
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