open FILE, "/dir/to/file.db"; 
open OUT, ">>/dir/to/output.db"; 
    while (my $line = <FILE>){ 
       
     if($line =~ /\<QUOTE\>/){ 
       $line =~ /\<QUOTE\>( .*)(\d*)(.*)\<\/QUOTE\>/;   
       my $replace = $1; 
       my $replace2 = $3; 
        
       $replace =~ tr/\w/x/; 
       $replace2 =~ tr/\w/x/; 
 
       print OUT "<QUOTE> $replace" .  $2 . $replace2 . "</QUOTE>\n"; 
 
      } else { 
         print OUT "$line\n"; 
          
    } 
close FILE; 
close OUT;