Alternate:

C:\>perl -E "my $str='<c:t="AD2343"/><c:p>65677676</c:p>'; if ( $str =
+~ m|(<c:.*)?(?:[/>]{2})| ) {say $1;}"
<c:t=AD2343
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Your code asks the regex engine to match a 'c', a colon and any number of anything thereafter(except newlines).

Because you didn't provide the actual code, we can't be sure just what other issues may be in play... such as the previously mentioned use of an alternate regex marker.

Update (based on the redefined problem in Re^2: Regex match last): You'll probably have fewer problems in the long run if you use an html parser of one flavor or another, rather than trying to parse html with regexen.

I am just capturing a group in the xml and replacing it with another group. I did'nt think that is parsing. Is it?

It's called parsing whenever you want to do anything with (specific bits of) the data you read :)

Yes, it is.

For an easily accessible analogy (i.e., a fair-to-good example from linguistics), see the second definition at http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/parse; for a more challenging info-dump, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parse.

You probably only want to match characters that are not > or /:

use 5.010;
use strict;
use warnings;


$_ = q[<c:t="AD2343"/><c:p>65677676</c:p>];
m{<([^>/]+)/>} && say $1
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i want to match only <c/> not </c> or <c>.

Then add a c after the opening < in the regex.
Perl 6 - the future is here, just unevenly distributed

#!/usr/bin/perl

use strict;
use warnings;

my $data = '<c:t="AD2343"/><c:p>65677676</c:p>';

if ($data =~ m@.*(<c:[^>]*/>).*@) {
    print("Match: [$1]\n");
}
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This does not match the required text in the following code :

<w:body><w:p w:rsidR="00A654E7" w:rsidRPr="00AD741F" w:rsidRDefault="00A654E7" w:rsidP="00A654E7"><w:pPr><w:pStyle w:val="Standard"/><w:rPr><w:rFonts w:asciiTheme="minorHAnsi" w:hAnsiTheme="minorHAnsi" w:cstheme="minorHAnsi"/><w:sz w:val="20"/><w:szCs w:val="20"/></w:rPr></w:pPr><w:r w:rsidRPr="00AD741F"/></w:body>

I want only these to be matched :

1<w:pStyle w:val="Standard"/>
2<w:rPr><w:rFonts w:asciiTheme="minorHAnsi" w:hAnsiTheme="minorHAnsi" 
+w:cstheme="minorHAnsi"/>
3<w:sz w:val="20"/>
4<w:r w:rsidRPr="00AD741F"/>
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#! perl -slw
use strict;

m[(<[^/>]+/>)] and print "'$1'" while <DATA>;

__DATA__
<w:body>
 <w:p w:rsidR="00A654E7" w:rsidRPr="00AD741F" w:rsidRDefault="00A654E7
+" w:rsidP="00A654E7">
  <w:pPr>
   <w:pStyle w:val="Standard"/>
   <w:rPr>
    <w:rFonts w:asciiTheme="minorHAnsi" w:hAnsiTheme="minorHAnsi" w:cs
+theme="minorHAnsi"/>
    <w:sz w:val="20"/>
    <w:szCs w:val="20"/>
   </w:rPr>
  </w:pPr>
  <w:r w:rsidRPr="00AD741F"/>
</w:body>
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Outputs:

C:\test>junk23
'<w:pStyle w:val="Standard"/>'
'<w:rFonts w:asciiTheme="minorHAnsi" w:hAnsiTheme="minorHAnsi" w:csthe
+me="minorHAnsi"/>'
'<w:sz w:val="20"/>'
'<w:szCs w:val="20"/>'
'<w:r w:rsidRPr="00AD741F"/>'
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BTW: Your sample XML is broken. The second level tag, <w:p ...> is never closed which will break strict XML parsers

---

With the rise and rise of 'Social' network sites: 'Computers are making people easier to use everyday'

Examine what is said, not who speaks -- Silence betokens consent -- Love the truth but pardon error.

"Science is about questioning the status quo. Questioning authority".

In the absence of evidence, opinion is indistinguishable from prejudice.

The start of some sanity?

No kidding. Your original post specified <c:.../> and your current 'does not match' code uses <w:.../>. You asked for a tool to turn a cross-head screw into a board, and when given a cross-head screwdriver say 'ok, but I cannot use it to turn this slotted screw'.

--MidLifeXis

In that case, you'll want:

#!/usr/bin/perl

use strict;
use warnings;

my $data = '<w:body><w:p w:rsidR="00A654E7" w:rsidRPr="00AD741F" w:rsi
+dRDefault="00A654E7" w:rsidP="00A654E7"><w:pPr><w:pStyle w:val="Stand
+ard"/><w:rPr><w:rFonts w:asciiTheme="minorHAnsi" w:hAnsiTheme="minorH
+Ansi" w:cstheme="minorHAnsi"/><w:sz w:val="20"/><w:szCs w:val="20"/><
+/w:rPr></w:pPr><w:r w:rsidRPr="00AD741F"/></w:body>';

print "Matches found:\n" . join (",\n", $data =~ m@(<[^>]*/>)@g) . "\n
+";
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Output:

Matches found:
<w:pStyle w:val="Standard"/>,
<w:rFonts w:asciiTheme="minorHAnsi" w:hAnsiTheme="minorHAnsi" w:csthem
+e="minorHAnsi"/>,
<w:sz w:val="20"/>,
<w:szCs w:val="20"/>,
<w:r w:rsidRPr="00AD741F"/>
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show your code

Your regex does match your sample string! (But not in the way you want.) A very good reason to use a module.

A Simple fix is:

use strict;
use warnings;
use English;
my $html = '<c:t="AD2343"/><c:p>65677676</c:p>';
$html =~ m{<c:.*/>}; 
print $MATCH, "\n";
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