he only way to end the search is to use the ultimate closeing brace. Perhaps using increment and decrement on 1st open and last close braces?

You could use a recursive regex. Easiest way to get one is Regexp::Common.

use Regexp::Common;

$_ = q{
    public void readExternal() {
        this { is } not {
            { real } java
        } code but an {
            {
                { example }
            }
        }
    }
};

my ($function) =
    /( public \s+ void \s+ readExternal [^{]+ $RE{balanced}{-parens=>'
+{}'} )/x;
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