my @ejectapes = qw(/usr/local/bin/perld/lvimgGH_ms0_tapes.orig); 
    #($^I, @ARGV) = ('.bak', @ejectapes);    
    open (FILE, "< @ejectapes") or die "cannot open @ejectapes: $!";

        while (<FILE>) {
                chomp;
                    print "$_ " if 1 .. 40;
        }
        
        #s/(^E+)/eject\t0,0,0 \t$1/ 
        close FILE;
        print "\n";
[download]

The file has 41 lines with Exxxxx strings in it. My goal is to open this file while taking the first 40 lines ( as you showed me earlier) which then I will insert the eject 0,0,0 string at the very beginning one time. The regular expression as above is commented out and has worked for me in the past but it places an eject in from of every E string. Here is a picture of what I need. eject 0,0,0 Exxxxx Exxxxx Exxxxx Exxxxx Exxxxx .....( Exxx x40) and currently it looks like this which is NOT what I want eject 0,0,0 Exxxx eject 0,0,0 Exxxxx eject 0,0,0 Exxxx (x40) thanks, derek