c:\@Work\Perl\monks>perl -wMstrict -le
"my @files = qw(blah.config boo.config big.config);
 ;;
 for (@files) {
   my $scalar_variable = $_;
   printf qq{'$scalar_variable' -> };
   $scalar_variable =~ s{ \A [^.]* }{}xms;
   print qq{'$scalar_variable'};
   }
"
'blah.config' -> '.config'
'boo.config' -> '.config'
'big.config' -> '.config'