$data =~ /reason/g or die for 1..3; my ($rest) = $data =~ /.*/sg; #### my ($rest) = $data =~ /^(?:.*?reason){3}(.*)/s; #### (my $rest = $data) =~ s/^(?:.*?reason){3}//s; # Fails poorly #### my $rest = ( split /reason/, $data, 4 )[-1];