$_ = "this is a TEsT case";
s/(test)/preserve_case($1, "success")/egi;

  sub preserve_case {
    my ($from, $to) = @_;
    my ($lf, $lt) = map length, @_;

    if ($lt < $lf) { $from = substr $from, 0, $lt }
    else { $from .= substr $to, $lf }

    return uc $to | ($from ^ uc $from);
  }