$_ = "adfjdk.kkk,8888888"; s/(.*?)\.(\w\w\w),/iif([month]>,$1.$2,0) as $2/; print "$_\n"; $_ = "adfjdk.kkk,8888888"; s|(.*?)\.(\w\w\w),|iif([month]>,$1.$2,0) as $2|; print "$_\n"; # prints: # iif([month]>,adfjdk.kkk,0) as kkk8888888 # iif([month]>,adfjdk.kkk,0) as kkk8888888