c:\@Work\Perl\monks>perl -wMstrict -le
"my $text = 'foo {bar} baz { whiz } boff';
 print qq{A: '$text'};
 ;;
 $text =~ s{ { \s* \w+ \s* } }{OTHER}xmsg;
 print qq{   '$text'};
 ;;
 $text = 'abc {tuvw} de { xyz } fghi';
 print qq{B: '$text'};
 ;;
 $text =~ s{ [\}\{] \s* \w+ \s* [\}\{] }{OTHER}xmsg;
 print qq{   '$text'};
"
A: 'foo {bar} baz { whiz } boff'
   'foo OTHER baz OTHER boff'
B: 'abc {tuvw} de { xyz } fghi'
   'abc OTHER de OTHER fghi'