use strict;
my $str = '1234567899
12345678
1234567
123456
12345
123
1';
my $regex = qr/(^\d{3}|(?<=^\d{3})\d{3}|\d+$)/mp;
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