use vars qw ( $message);

$message = qq ( Foo bar <font size="7"> phrase here </font> blivits. );

$message =~ s#(\d+)#($1 > 5) ? 5 : $1#eisg;

if ( $1 ) {
         print "\n After s###, \$1 is: $1 \n ...and revised \$msg is: $message \n";
        }
         else 
        {
         print "\n no \$1 found \n";
}