+----------------------------- In the scalar $s (interpreted as a string), | +--------------------- if you find an _ (underscore) | | +----------------- that's followed by 0 or more of anything but an _ (underscore) | | | and then the end-of-string, | | | + -- replace it with a , (comma). | | | | V V V V $s =~ s{ _ (?= [^_]* \z) }{,}xms; #### c:\@Work\Perl\monks>perl -wMstrict -le "use 5.010; ;; 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'}; $s =~ s{ .* \K _ }{,}xms; print qq{'$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'