$ perl -Mstrict -Mwarnings -E ' my $dna = q{atctcggataatgggataaaaatataggctataaatggcgccccggctaattttt}; if ($dna =~ /atg([acgt]+)(?!(taa|tag|tga))/xms) { say $1; } ' ggataaaaatataggctataaatggcgccccggctaattttt