We study rogue waves in an inhomogeneous nonlinear optical fiber with variable coefficients.An exact rogue wave solution that describes rogue wave excitation and modulation on a bright soliton pulse is obtained.Special properties of rogue waves on the bright soliton,such as the trajectory and spectrum,are analyzed in detail.In particular,our analytical results suggest a way of sustaining the peak shape of rogue waves on the soliton background by choosing an appropriate dispersion parameter. We study rogue waves in an inhomogeneous nonlinear optical fiber with variable coefficients. An exact rogue wave solution that describes rogue wave excitation and modulation on a bright soliton pulse is obtained. Special properties of rogue waves on the bright soliton, such as the trajectory and spectrum , are analyzed in detail. In particular, our analytical results suggest a way of sustaining the peak shape of rogue waves on the soliton background by choosing an appropriate dispersion parameter.