knoppix@Microknoppix:~$ perl -E ' > $l = q{abc,def,ghi,jkl,mno}; > say $l; > @e = split m{,}, $l; > $l = join q{,}, $e[ 0 ], join q{}, @e[ 1 .. $#e ]; > say $l;' abc,def,ghi,jkl,mno abc,defghijklmno knoppix@Microknoppix:~$