c:\@Work\Perl\monks>perl -wMstrict -le
"my $desc = 'leave (only text) this () too -- does not (v(w(x)y)z) work';
 $desc =~ s/\(.*?\)//gs;
 print qq{'$desc'};
"
'leave  this  too -- does not y)z) work'

##</code><code>##

c:\@Work\Perl\monks>perl -wMstrict -le
"use Regexp::Common qw(balanced);
 ;;
 my $desc = 'a (text) b () c (v(w(x)y)z) d ((())) e (unbalanced(balanced) f';
 $desc =~ s{ $RE{balanced}{-parens => '()'} }{}xmsg;
 print qq{'$desc'};
"
'a  b  c  d  e (unbalanced f'