c:\@Work\Perl\monks>perl -wMstrict -le
"my $str = 'a+ +test+lotsapluses+++++++test';
 print qq{'$str'};
 ;;
 $str =~ tr{+}{ }s;
 print qq{'$str'};
"
'a+ +test+lotsapluses+++++++test'
'a   test lotsapluses test'