Ah, then a simple perl script isn't going to do enough. The data needs to be there first before you can manipulate it. As much as I hate to say it, this may be a case where he needs to look at Kicad instead. While I don't really know, I expect they are more likely to support XYRS files as they have solid models for their parts usually and are aiming at more the commercial market/
Peter Van Epp