$argact = $ARGV[0] or die "No number given\n"; open INPUT, 'one.txt' or die $!; open NEWFILE, '>', 'output' or die $!; while (){ if(/^Authentication\s+number\s+is/) { my ($old_num) = /(\d+)/; if ($argact != $oldnum) { $changeflag = 1; s/\d+/$argact/; } } print NEWFILE; }