Any ideas? Can it be done in one statement?

Indeed it can, thanks to the utility of do. 

$text = '<p class="first">'
      . do { $text =~ s|(\n\n+)|</p>\1<p class="later">|g; $text }
      . '</p>';

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In reply to Re: Concatenation and Regex on one Statement? by dws
in thread Concatenation and Regex on one Statement? by Cody Pendant

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