i did it like this. My script was replacing characters, but it can do more.

sub fixspace{
        $rem ="bob";
        $rep = "john";
        open FILE, "<$file";
        
        open OUTP, ">c:\\joshperl\\deptemp.txt";

        while (<FILE>)
            {
            s/$rem/$rep/go;
            print OUTP;
            }
        close FILE;
        close OUTP;
}
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