c:\test>perl -MO=Deparse -l -0x3e -ane"@F||next; s/length=//for$F[1]; @F[5]=join'',@F[5..99]; $#F=5; print'>',join',',@F" junk.dat BEGIN { $/ = ">"; $\ = "\n"; } LINE: while (defined($_ = )) { chomp $_; our(@F) = split(' ', $_, 0); next unless @F; s/length=// foreach ($F[1]); @F[5] = join('', @F[5..99]); $#F = 5; print '>', join(',', @F); } -e syntax OK