use warnings; use strict; my $str1 = "THIS IS OUTSIDE (THIS IS INSIDE)"; (my $x = $str1) =~ s/\(.*?\)//g; # $x is "THIS IS OUTSIDE " my $str2 = "OUTSIDE (INSIDE) OUTSIDE"; (my $y = $str2) =~ s/\(.*?\)//g; # $y is "OUTSIDE OUTSIDE" my $str3 = "OUT(IN)OUT(IN)OUT(IN)(IN)OUT"; (my $z = $str3) =~ s/\(.*?\)//g; # $z is "OUTOUTOUTOUT"