perl -pi -e 'm{^/index} and s/$/%/' file #### use Tie::File; tie my @fl, 'Tie::File', "filename.here" or die "ack: $!"; for(@fl) { m{^/index} and s/$/%/; } #### open(my $in_fh, '<', "input.filename") or die "ack: $!"; open(my $out_fh, '>', "output.filename") or die "ack: $!"; while(<$in_fh>) { m{^/index} and $_ .= "%"; print {$out_fh} $_; } close $in_fh; close $out_fh; rename( "output.filename", "input.filename" ) or die "ack: $!";