open (FH,"text.txt"); @lines=; @patterns = qw/ line secondline/; @replace = qw/'' 'line_R' 'secondline_R'/; foreach $line (@lines){ chomp $line; for ($i=0;$i<=2;$i++){ if ($line =~ /\B$patterns[$i]\B/i){ $line =~ s/$patterns[$i]/$replace[$i]/i; push @repd,$line; } } } foreach $line (@repd){ print "$line\n"; }