C:\>perl -MO=Deparse -pl -e "next if /bala/;s/([^:]+)([^:]+)/$2$1/" file.txt BEGIN { $/ = "\n"; $\ = "\n"; } LINE: while (defined($_ = )) { chomp $_; next if /bala/; s/([^:]+)([^:]+)/$2$1/; } continue { print $_; } -e syntax OK