Hello rsFalse,

I want $some_file to become syntactically correct.

Do you mean you want to turn a text file into syntactically correct Perl? If so, this sounds like a recipe for disaster. Are you going to eval "$some_file"; after prepending a $ sigil to each word? If the file comes from an untrustworthy source, it could destroy your system. And if from a trusted source, why the need to re-write it? And how do you know in advance that a variable should be prepended with a $, and not an @ or a %?

This is beginning to look like an XY Problem. Might be a better idea to explain what you’re trying to achieve. It’s likely the monks will be able to steer you towards a better strategy.

Hope that helps,