use strict;
my $str = 'ACMH ADMIT TO XXX
ACSU ADMIT TO XXX SUB-ACUTE (TCU)
ADOPT ADOPTION
AMA AGAINST MEDICAL ADVICE
APSY ADMIT TO CMH PSYCHIATRIC UNIT
CANCEL CANCELLED SERVICE
CANCELER CANCELLED ER
CANCELTRI CANCELLED TRIAGE
EXP EXPIRED ';
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