" #!perl -i.bak @ARGV = ($0); while (<>) { $end = 1 if /^__END__/; print if $end < 2; $end++ if /^"/ and $end; if (eof) { open my $f, "; # manipulate the line here close $f; } } __END__ " # normal lines start here # etc. etc. #### #!/bin/env updater # perl -lanwe '(...the script from before...)' inputfile # ... # the normal output... # ... #### #!/usr/bin/perl use strict; use warnings; my $script = ''; my $out = ''; my ($file) = @ARGV; while (<>) { next unless s/^(#\s*)//; $script .= $_ unless $. == 1; $out .= "$1$_"; } open STDOUT, '>', $file; print $out; open my $pipe, "| $ENV{SHELL}"; print $pipe $script; close $pipe;