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in reply to HTML::TokeParser Frustration

graff has answered your question. fwiw I find HTML::TokeParser::Simple can, imo, help make this sort of task easier. 
#!/usr/bin/perl

use strict;
use warnings;

use HTML::TokeParser::Simple;

my $sample_HTML = <<EOD;
<HTML>
blah.
<CDATA> 
Just some random whatever. It might have some <b>real</b> HTML like a 
+table or CSS styling

or even some <H1>IMPORTANT</H1> words. Maybe even a form <form method=
+post>...</form> 
</CDATA>
</HTML>
EOD

my $p = HTML::TokeParser::Simple->new(\$sample_HTML)
  or die qq{parse failed\n};
  
my ($in_cdata, $cdata);
while (my $t = $p->get_token){
  $in_cdata++, next if $t->is_start_tag(q{cdata});
  $in_cdata--, next if $t->is_end_tag(q{cdata});  
  next unless $in_cdata;
  $cdata .= $t->as_is;
}

print $cdata;

[download]
 
Just some random whatever. It might have some <b>real</b> HTML like a 
+table or CSS styling

or even some <H1>IMPORTANT</H1> words. Maybe even a form <form method=
+post>...</form>

[download]

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