Generally is a bad idea to do an inplace edit without backup. For this reason Perl -i commandline switch always ask for a backup file extension.

Infact a simple oneliner (pay attention to windows doublequotes around oneliner!) can do the basic work you need to get started:

cat add-data.txt

432 10TH ST APT (Range 2A - 2B)
BROOKLYN NY 10598-6601
432 10TH ST APT (Range 3A - 3B)
BROOKLYN NY 10598-6601
432 10TH ST APT (Range 4A - 4B)
BROOKLYN NY 10598-6605
432 10TH ST APT (Range 5A - 5D)
BROOKLYN NY 10598-6605
432 10TH ST APT 6A
BROOKLYN NY 10598-6605

perl -i.bak -p -e "s/BROOKLYN/BROCCOLINO/ and $c++; END{print qq($c ch
+anges\n)}" add-data.txt
5 changes

cat add-data.txt

432 10TH ST APT (Range 2A - 2B)
BROCCOLINO NY 10598-6601
432 10TH ST APT (Range 3A - 3B)
BROCCOLINO NY 10598-6601
432 10TH ST APT (Range 4A - 4B)
BROCCOLINO NY 10598-6605
432 10TH ST APT (Range 5A - 5D)
BROCCOLINO NY 10598-6605
432 10TH ST APT 6A
BROCCOLINO NY 10598-6605
[download]

You dont need the two times say in your original program: just do the replacement (add to counter if it happens) and write the line to the file (changed or not).

To get a longer and more complex program it would be better to use Getopt::Long to grab your arguments: program.pl -f file.txt --backup file.txt.bak --match BROOKLYN --replace BROCCOLINO

You can benefit from qr to get your pattern compiled (and you can check there for pattern compilation errors).

L*