#!/usr/bin/env perl use strict; use warnings; while (my $init_line = ) { my $neg_class_line = $init_line; my $neg_assert_line = $init_line; $neg_class_line =~ s/,([^,]*)$/$1/; $neg_assert_line =~ s/,(?!.*,)//; print 'Initial line: ', $init_line; print 'Negated class: ', $neg_class_line; print 'Negative assertion: ', $neg_assert_line; print '-' x 40, "\n"; } __DATA__ 21112,/vol/voly,blx 21113,/vol/eng,blz 21114,/vol/eng,file