$line = sprintf qq{Test #1 'Show me Waynes world','Jennys Basketball shoes'\n}; $line =~ s/(['"]).+?(['"])/$1SSS$2/g; print $line; $line = sprintf qq{Test #2 'Show me Wayne\'s world','Jenny\'s Basketball shoes'\n}; $line =~ s/(['"]).+?(['"])/$1SSS$2/g; print $line; __END__ Test #1 'SSS','SSS' Test #2 'SSS's world'SSS'Jenny'SSS'