Hey Dave, Thanks for the advice. Although I am using your code, I am not getting the correct output...

Code I am using: 

#!/usr/bin/perl
use warnings;
use strict;

if($#ARGV<0){
    die "Usage: $0 <*.txt>\n";
}

open(IN,$ARGV[0]) ;

$/ = "\n\n";

while ( <IN> ) {
    if( my( $number ) = m/(\d+)/ ) {
        s/\b\p{Alpha}+\b/$number/g;
    } else {
        warn "Malformed record in input line $.\n$_\nContinuing.\n";
    }
    print;
}

[download]

Input:

0       ASDF
        ASEE
        ASEE

13      DERG
        DREG

28      QWER
        QWER

42      WERT
        WERT
        WERT

55      QWEASD
        QWEASD
        QWEASD
        QWEASD

[download]

Getting this output:

0       0
        0
        0

13      0
        0

28      0
        0

42      0
        0
        0

55      0
        0
        0
        0

[download]

Desired Output: 

0       0
        0
        0

13      13
        13

28      28
        28

42      42
        42
        42

55      55
        55
        55
        55

[download]

I see that it is in this line s/\b\p{Alpha}+\b/$number/g; where the substitution is being made. Is the code referring back to the original 0 in the top left hand column perhaps?

In reply to Re^2: Modify a txt file by la
in thread Modify a txt file by la

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