my $filename = "input.txt"; open my $file, '<', $filename; @fileinput=<$file>; close($file); foreach $line(@fileinput) { my $Cword=($line); if($Cword=s/(^AU:\s[a-z]\s\[a-z])/(^AU:\s[A-Z]\s[A-Z])/g) { print $Cword; }