It's debatable: The OP said, the strings may not start or end with L. He didn't say which strings: Those, that are returned (use +) or those that are found (don't use +).

I vote for the strings returned ;-) But only the OP can tell.

P.S. See his (partial) Solution, He's cutting of all leading L's, so I have a good argument for my view, don't you agree?

s$$([},&%#}/&/]+}%&{})*;#$&&s&&$^X.($'^"%]=\&(|?*{%
+.+=%;.#_}\&"^"-+%*).}%:##%}={~=~:.")&e&&s""`$''`"e

In reply to Re^4: Regexp: How to match in middle but not the ends? by Skeeve
in thread Regexp: How to match in middle but not the ends? by cormanaz

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