my $value='Wed,Jun,13,10:23:35,2012,,,rdy,769,busy,31,rd,0,wr,22,ka,6 '; $value=~y/,,,/,/s; print $value; ## Wed,Jun,13,10:23:35,2012,rdy,769,busy,31,rd,0,wr,22,ka,6 #### open my $filehandler,'<',$file or die "can't open file: $!"; # .... others codes close $filehandler or die "can't close file:$!";