c:\@Work\Perl\monks>perl -wMstrict -le "my @flist = qw( 1st-device-CA_Eth.0/1 2nd-device_TX_Gig.1/1 3rd_device_MO_Gig.1/1 ); ;; for my $s (@flist) { print qq{'$s'}; $s =~ s{ _ (?= [^_]* \z) }{,}xms; print qq{'$s'}; print ''; } " '1st-device-CA_Eth.0/1' '1st-device-CA,Eth.0/1' '2nd-device_TX_Gig.1/1' '2nd-device_TX,Gig.1/1' '3rd_device_MO_Gig.1/1' '3rd_device_MO,Gig.1/1'