use strict;
my $str = '{"aclList": {0: {"sequence": {1: {"counterData": "some data"';
my $regex = qr/(?<={)(\d+)(?=:)/mp;
my $subst = '"\\1"';
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