#!/usr/bin/perl

use strict;
use warnings;
use Template;
#use Template::Parser;

my $template = Template->new({});

my $text = "[% SET content='" . ("stuff "x20_000) . "' %]";

my $start = qr/\Q[%/;
my $end   = qr/\Q%]/;
while ($text =~ s/
       ^(.*?)               # $1 - start of line up to directive
       (?:
       $start          # start of tag
       (.*?)           # $2 - tag contents
       $end            # end of tag
       )
       //sx) {
    #print "1=$1\n2=$2\n";
}

pos($text) = 0;

$template->process(\$text, {});

print "Processed\n";