#!/usr/bin/perl -w use strict; my $start_flag = ''; my $stop_flag = ''; my $replacement = <<'REPL'; "z:\path\newfilename1.ext" GL "z:\path\newfilename2.ext" GL "z:\path\newfilename3.ext" GL "z:\path\newfilename4.ext" GL "z:\path\newfilename5.ext" GL "z:\path\newfilename6.ext" GL REPL open ORIGINAL, "< original.txt" or die "can't open original file\n"; my $original; { local $/; $original = ; } close ORIGINAL; $original =~ s/ $start_flag .*? (\s*) $stop_flag \n /$start_flag\n$replacement$1$stop_flag/gsx; open COPY, "> copy.txt" or die "can't write to copy\n"; print COPY $original; close COPY;