in reply to merge sequences with new sequence insertion

How about something like this:

#!/usr/bin/perl use warnings; use 5.12.4; my $string = "NNNNNCATTCCATTCATTAATTAATTAATGAATGAATGNNNNN"; while (<DATA>) { next if /^>.+/; next if /^$/; chomp; $_ .= $string unless eof; print; } __DATA__ >contig number 11 tttgctcggaggggatc >contig number 23 gaaaacacttccttattatacaggtaaaccgtatttggat >contig number 3 aaagctcggaggggatcccct ########## It prints: tttgctcggaggggatcNNNNNCATTCCATTCATTAATTAATTAATGAATGAATGNNNNNgaaaacactt +ccttattatacaggtaaaccgtatttggatNNNNNCATTCCATTCATTAATTAATTAATGAATGAATGN +NNNNaaagctcggaggggatcccct