use warnings; use strict; print qq{running under Perl version: $] \n\n}; my $str = <>}; print qq{\n\n}; $str =~ s{ \s* ([&|]) \s* }{\n$1\n}xmsg; print qq{[[$str]]}; #### c:\@Work\Perl\monks\ravi45722>perl xform_str_1.pl running under Perl version: 5.008009 <> [[must-column08:Submit & must-column10:Delivered must-column08:Submit & must-column10:Delivered One & must-column9:No_error must-column08:See Here & must-column10:Delivered | must-column9:No_error ]]