use strict; my @input = ("A/B/C/D/E/F/", "A/B/C/D/","A/B/C/D","A/B/C/", "A/B/C","A/B","A"); foreach (@input){ print "$1\n" if m|((?:\w+/){4})|; } #### A/B/C/D/ A/B/C/D/ #### A/B/C/D/ A/B/C/D/ A/B/C/D A/B/C/ A/B/C A/B A
## A/B/C/D/ A/B/C/D/ ##
## A/B/C/D/ A/B/C/D/ A/B/C/D A/B/C/ A/B/C A/B A