$str = $a . $b . $c .$d; $xpos_spot = length( $str ); $e = '0000000000'; $xpos_len = length($e); $str .= $e; $str .= $f; ... $str .= $w; substr $str, $xpos_spot, $xpos_len, sprintf('%${xpos_len}d',length($str)); $str .= $x; ...