use strict; my $file = '.'; opendir(MYDIR,$file); my @files = readdir(MYDIR); foreach (@files) { next if( m/^\.+$/); if ( m/\s/g ) { my $oldfile = $_; s/\s/_/g; if (! -e) { rename $oldfile, $_; } else { print "Could not rename $oldfile because ${_} name already exists and can not be overwritten\n"; } } print "$_\n"; }