#!/usr/bin/perl use strict; use warnings; my $filename = shift or die "Need a filename"; my $text; SLURP:{ local $/; open my $fh, '<', $filename or die "Error opening $filename: $!"; $text = <$fh>; close $fh; } $text =~ s/(^fixed.*) #match fixed-address \n #followed by newline (^hardware.*) #followed by hardware / $2\n$1 #and switch them (remember newline!) /mgx; #m for multiline, g for multiple matches print $text;