my $xmljunk = "2012-02-25T18:48:34.835-05:00 ";
my $desired = $xmljunk;
$desired =~ s/T/ /;
$desired =~ s/\..*$//;
print "$xmljunk\n$desired\n\n";
__END__
2012-02-25T18:48:34.835-05:00
2012-02-25 18:48:34