X:\>perl oops.pl 'JAMES SMITH-JONES' -> 'James Smith-Jones''BOB SMITH-SMYTHE-SMITH' -> 'Bob Smith -Smythe-Smith''J. JONAH JAMESON' -> 'J. Jonah Jameson''BILLY BOB THORNTON' -> 'B illy Bob Thornton''LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN' -> 'Ludwig Van Beethoven' X:\>type oops.pl my @names = ( 'JAMES SMITH-JONES', 'BOB SMITH-SMYTHE-SMITH', 'J. JONAH JAMESON', 'BILLY BOB THORNTON', 'LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN', ); ;; for my $name (@names) { printf qq{'$name' -> }; $name =~ s{ \b ([[:upper:]]+) \b }{\u\L$1}xmsg; print qq{'$name'}; } X:\>