#!/usr/bin/perl -w use strict; local $/ = ""; # paragraph mode while () { my ($num) = /^(\d+)/; s/\w+/$num/g; print; } __DATA__ 0 ASDF ASEE ASEE 13 DERG DREG 28 QWER QWER 42 WERT WERT WERT 55 QWEASD QWEASD QWEASD QWEASD