while (my $line = <$fh>){ chomp $line; $line =~s/\s+/;/g; push(@lines, line =~s:\b(MFG|DOME/GT|OG)\b::go); } print @lines; close $fh or die $!; open(my $w_fh,'>',$fest or die $!; print $w_fh @lines; close $w_fh or die $!;