Replace dot with semicolon in PERL

Shell Programming and Scripting
1

Hi,
I have a file in PERL in the following pattern

[file]
filename| 06-Dec-11 03.04.14.000000 PM
filename1| 06-Dec-11 05.05.14.000000 PM
[/quote]

I need to replace .(dot) with :(semicolon) in the timestamp value of the file
How can this be done. Any help will be appreciated
Thanks in advance

2 
s/([0-9]{2})\.([0-9]{2}\.([0-9]{2})/$1:$2:$3/
3

the other columns may also have dot (.) in it which should not be replaced with semicolon. only timestamp column should be handled. i.e only the 2 nd column. how can this be done.
[file]
filename| 06-Dec-11 03.04.14.000000 PM|nameisaere..rp
filename1| 06-Dec-11 05.05.14.000000 PM|erevdrname.
[/quote]

4

I understand. If you read the regex carefully, it'll match dots which are in between couples of numbers. (for e.g., dots in 05.05.14 or 03.04.14) Are you going to have string beyond the timestamp which contains dots embedded in couples of numbers?

5

yes exactly. The string beyond timestamp will have dots embedded in couple of numbers or names like "name.is" , "name123.is"

6 
[root@host dir]# cat input
filename| 06-Dec-11 03.04.14.000000 PM|nameisaere..rp
filename1| 06-Dec-11 05.05.14.000000 PM|erevdrname.
[root@host dir]#
[root@host dir]# perl -F"\|" -lane '$F[1]=~s/(?<=[0-9]{2})\.(?![0-9]{3,})/:/g; print join ("|", @F)' input
filename| 06-Dec-11 03:04:14.000000 PM|nameisaere..rp
filename1| 06-Dec-11 05:05:14.000000 PM|erevdrname.
[root@host dir]#