if($input =~ /^(\([^\)]*\))/)
    {
        my $pattern = $1;
        s/$pattern//;
    }       

##</code><code>##

    if($input =~ s/^(\([^\)]*\))//)
    {
        # Successfully trimmed (...) at beginning of line
    } else {
        # Didn't match ^(...)
    }