#!/usr/bin/perl # https://perlmonks.org/?node_id=1217048 use strict; use warnings; local $_ = do { local $/; }; /^(.*)\\.*\\.*\n(?:\1\\.*\\.*\n)*$/ and s/\Q$1\E//g; print; __DATA__ C:\somedirectory\anotherDirectory\WorkingDirectory\myFile.txt C:\somedirectory\anotherDirectory\WorkingDirectory\Logs\myLogs.txt C:\somedirectory\anotherDirectory\WorkingDirectory\Stuff\myStuff.txt