use strict;
my $str = '- lat: "-82.645672"
long: \'44.941747\'
title: "Item 1"
- lat: "-82.645744"
long: \'44.940731\'
title: "Item 2"
- lat: "-82.645744"
long: \'44.940731\'
title: "Item 3"
- lat: "-82.646599"
long: \'44.941441\'
title: "Item 4"';
my $regex = qr/^(-\s+)(lat)(.*)(\n\s*)(long)/mp;
my $subst = '$1$5$3$4$2';
my $result = $str =~ s/$regex/$subst/rg;
print "The result of the substitution is' $result\n";
Please keep in mind that these code samples are automatically generated and are not guaranteed to work. If you find any syntax errors, feel free to submit a bug report. For a full regex reference for Perl, please visit: http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html