my $new_string;
my $width = 50;
while ( length( $string ) > $width ) {
    my $brksp = rindex( $string, ' ', $width );
    $new_string .= substr( $string, 0, $brksp ) . '<br /><br />';
    $string = substr( $string, $brksp+1 );
}
$new_string .= $string;