open FH, '+) { s/2/two\nhi hello/; $temp .= $_; } seek(FH, 0, 0); print FH $temp; truncate(FH, tell(FH)); close(FH); #### sub slurp { my $file = shift; open my $fh, '<', $file or return undef; local $/ unless wantarray; return <$fh> if defined wantarray; } sub jot { my $notepad = shift; open my $fh, ">", $notepad or die $!; print $fh @_; } my $temp = slurp 'file.txt'; $temp =~ s/2/two\nhi hello/; jot 'file.txt', $temp;