use strict;
use warnings;

my $re = qr/the\b.*?quick\b.*?fox/;
while (<DATA>) {
	chomp($_);
	my $text = $_;
	my $match;
	while ($text =~ /($re)/) {
		$match = $1;
		$text = substr($match, 1);
	}
	print "it matches '$match'\n";
}

__DATA__
the dog and the bear are quick, but the quick white fox is quicker
the quick fox and the brown fox
the quick raven and the quick fox
the quick yellow fox and the quick fox