$line =~ s/A.TL5F00/+TL\\F5C/g; #### use warnings; use strict; while (my $line = ) { $line =~ s/^A.TL5([EF])00/+TL\\${1}5C/g; print $line; } __DATA__ A.TL5E001100.TAV A.TL5F001100.TAV