c:\@Work\Perl>perl -wMstrict -le "my $adate = '2017-01-29 11:30:07.370'; ;; my $A_new = $adate =~ s/(\d{4})-(\d{2})-(\d{2})\s(\d{2}):(\d{2})(.*)/$2-$3-$1 $4:$5/r; print qq{A: new '$A_new' old '$adate'}; ;; (my $B_new = $adate) =~ s/(\d{4})-(\d{2})-(\d{2})\s(\d{2}):(\d{2})(.*)/$2-$3-$1 $4:$5/; print qq{B: new '$B_new' old '$adate'}; " A: new '01-29-2017 11:30' old '2017-01-29 11:30:07.370' B: new '01-29-2017 11:30' old '2017-01-29 11:30:07.370'