I would pass on using a regex for this one. 
while(<FILE>)
{
    @line = split '|'; # split line
    $firstLetter = substr $line[1], 0, 1; #grab first letter
    $lastName = (split(' ', $line[1]))[1]; #split the name entry on wh
+itespace and grab the last name portion
    $name = $firstLetter . ". " . $lastName; #concatenate with period 
+after first letter
}

[download]
Jeremy

In reply to Re: Parsing Names in a Text File by enoch
in thread Parsing Names in a Text File by Perl Newby

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