You really need the -i option to edit the file in place as the OP did (I love the irrational number options "-pi -e"). Avoiding slurping is good (especially if it's a large file). The chomp usage is clever, but I think I prefer your first line. Not only does it have one less weird variable, but the s also makes it a lot more obvious what it's doing. On the other hand, maybe I shouldn't be worried about the readability of a one-liner.