$filein = "sample.txt"; open(FILE, $filein) or die "Couldn't open file $file"; while () { $line = $_; (@values) = split ( /(,)/ , $line); foreach $value(@values) { if ($value =~ /-\d{2}/) {$value =~ s/-/0/} elsif ($value =~ /-\d{3}/) {$value =~ s/-//} } push (@newfile,@values); print @values; } $filein=~ s/.txt/.tst/; open (NEW, ">$filein"); print NEW "@newfile"; close (NEW);