{ my %mons = qw( Jan 1 Feb 2 Mar 3 Apr 4 May 5 Jun 6 Jul 7 Aug 8 Sep 9 Oct 10 Nov 11 Dec 12 ); my $mon_str = join '|', keys %mons; my $mon_re = qr/$mon_str/; sub fix_bcp_file { my ( $file ) = @_; local ( $^I, @ARGV ) = ( '', $file ); while ( <> ) { s/(^|\|)($mon_re)\s{1,2}(\d{1,2})\s(\d{4})\s\s?(\d\d?):(\d\d):(\d\d):(\d{3})([AP])M(\||$)/ $1 . sprintf( '%04d-%02d-%02d %02d:%02d:%02d.%03d', $4, $mons{ $2 }, $3, ( $9 eq 'P' && $5 < 12) ? $5 + 12 : ( $9 eq 'A' && $5 == 12 ) ? 0 : $5, $6, $7, $8 ) . $10 /eg; print; # UPDATED thanks runrig } } }