Here's one way to do it with a regexp:

# cat 1139933.dat para1 foo bar para1 some stuff para2 other stuff para2 foo bar para2 extra stuff para3 this is enough #

# perl -Mstrict -wne' $/ = ""; s/^(para2.*)^$/$1new text\n/ms; print; ' 1139933.dat para1 foo bar para1 some stuff para2 other stuff para2 foo bar new text para2 extra stuff new text para3 this is enough #

Update: new solution; hippo beat me to my first idea

The way forward always starts with a minimal test.

In reply to Re: one liner append line(s) to matched paragraph by 1nickt
in thread one liner append line(s) to matched paragraph by PeteInPDX

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