perl -pe 's:\B(\w)(\w+)\B:$2$1:g'
#        ------------------------
#        12345678 1 2345678 2 234
[download]

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[ e d @ h a l l e y . c c ]

It misses out on apostrophes because the original question didn't deal with them either. It wasn't specified how those should be handled. Note that it's fairly trivial to replace \w with [\w'], as long as you don't use \B or \b.

Abigail

Maybe I am doing something wrong, but I tried your one-liner and it does not work:

perl -pe 's:\B(\w)(\w+)\B:$2$1:g'
According to a research at an English university, it doesn't matter in
+ what orde
r
According to a research at an English university, it doesn't matter in
+ what orde
r
[download]

It just reprinted the exact same line I typed in.

Celebrate Intellectual Diversity

If you're on Windows, use double-quotes on the command line. If you're on any Un*x variety, including cshell and bash on Solaris and Linux, use the single-quotes as given.

Every command shell differs in what needs escaping, and what is seen as one argument, or two arguments. However, many people playing golf seem to prefer the Un*x varieties. Maybe it's because Un*x has inspired golf since its inception: cp instead of copy; mv instead of move; ln instead of link; etc.

Know your command shell.

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[ e d @ h a l l e y . c c ]

Shells often play tricks on us all -> `perldoc perlrun' -> On some systems, you may have to change single-quotes to double ones

C:>perl -pe s:\B(\w)(\w+)\B:$2$1:g
According to a research at an English university, it doesn't matter in
+ what order
Acordincg to a rsearceh at an Eglisnh uiversitny, it deson't mttear in
+ waht oderr
One two three four, NodeReaper is gonna score!
One two trehe fuor, NdeReapeor is gnnoa sorce!
^Z
[download]

MJD says "you can't just make shit up and expect the computer to know what you mean, retardo!"

I run a Win32 PPM repository for perl 5.6.x and 5.8.x -- I take requests (README).

** The third rule of perl club is a statement of fact: pod is sexy.