if ( m|/user/(?!prot/)| )  

##</code><code>##

#!/usr/local/bin/perl5.6.0 -w
use strict;

while ( <DATA> )
{
    chomp;

    #if ( m|/user/(?!prot/)| )      # Works
    #if ( m|/user/[^p]?[^r]?[^o]?[^t]?[^/]?| )
    #if ( m|/user/([^p]*?[^r]*?[^o]*?[^t]*?[^/]*?)?| )
    #if ( m|/user/[^p]+?[^r]+?[^o]+?[^t]+?[^/]+?| )
    #if ( m|/user/([^p]*[^r]*[^o]*[^t]*[^/]*)?| )
    {
        print qq{Disallow!! [$_]\n};
    }
    else
    {
        print qq{Allowed. [$_]\n};
    }
}

__DATA__
/user/prot/
/user/protrusions/
/user/a/
/user/backups

##</code><code>##

<LocationMatch  /user/(?!prot/) >
   <Limit GET>
         order allow,deny
         deny from all
    </Limit>
    AllowOverride None
</LocationMatch>