my $x = 3;
my $chr = 'e';
my $newchr = '1';
my $str = "Terence and Philip are sweet!\n";

print $str;

$x--;
1 while ($str =~ s/(([^$chr]*$chr){$x}([^$chr]*))$chr/$1$newchr/g);

print $str;
[download]

PerlMonks parthenogenetically spawned by Tim Vroom.
PerlMonks was recently assimilated by The Perl Foundation.
Wonderful Web Servers and Bandwidth Generously Provided by pair Networks
Built with the Perl programming language.