use strict;
my $str = 'text *inner text 1* text2 *inner text 2*';
my $regex = qr/\*([^\*]+)\*/mp;
my $subst = '<span>$1</span>';
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