Using three dots and negating the condition works, but you have to omit the last line, which is easy if you capture the value returned by the flipflop and check it for E: 
#!/usr/bin/perl
use warnings;
use strict;

while (<DATA>) {
    if (my $flip = /^start/ ... /^[^+]/) {
        print unless $flip =~ /E/;
    }
}

__DATA__
start text
+ 123
+ 456
+ 789
some other text not starting with +

[download]

($q=q:Sq=~/;[c](.)(.)/;chr(-||-|5+lengthSq)`"S|oS2"`map{chr |+ord
}map{substrSq`S_+|`|}3E|-|`7**2-3:)=~y+S|`+$1,++print+eval$q,q,a,

[download]

In reply to Re: Greedy flip flop operator? by choroba
in thread Greedy flip flop operator? by chengchl

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