c:\@Work\Perl>perl -wMstrict -le "for my $s (' bElLmOnT NY', ' NeW yOrK NY', ' sAuLt StE. mArIe MI',) { my $t = $s; my $name = qr{ [[:alpha:]]+ [.]? }xms; $t =~ s{ \b ($name) (?= \s+ $name) } {\u\L$1}xmsg; print qq{'$s' -> '$t'}; } " ' bElLmOnT NY' -> ' Bellmont NY' ' NeW yOrK NY' -> ' New York NY' ' sAuLt StE. mArIe MI' -> ' Sault Ste. Marie MI'