use strict;
my $str = '{{Infobox XYZ
|first parameter=foo
|second_parameter=
|3rd parameter=bar
|4th=bazzzzz
|5th=
|etc.=
}}';
my $regex = qr/^\s*\|\s*([^=]*?)\s*=(.*)$/mp;
my $subst = ' | $1 = $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