You didn't describe the problem in sufficient detail.

Do you really get John, if it's there? 

$str =~s/.*(John).*/$1/;

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Do you want to keep the last string after the last slash and before the dot? 

$str =~s{.* / | \. .*}{}gx;

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Or, maybe, you want the fist word after the fifth slash? 

$str =~s{ (?: [^/]* / ){5} ( \w+ ) .* }{$1}x;

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Or, ...

Also, do you really need to use substitution? Matching seems more appropriate. 

print $str =~ /(John)/;
print $str =~ m{ .* / (.+) \. }x;
print $str =~ m{ (?: [^/]* / ){5} ( \w+ ) }x;

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Do you need to use regexes at all? 

my $s = 'John';
print $s if -1 != index $str, $s;

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Update: Some alternatives provided.

map{substr$_->[0],$_->[1]||0,1}[\*||{},3],[[]],[ref qr-1,-,-1],[{}],[sub{}^*ARGV,3]

In reply to Re: remove words with regex by choroba
in thread remove words with regex by frank1

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