use strict; use warnings; use feature 'say'; use constant LETTERS => join '', 'A'..'Z', 'a'..'z'; # template use constant N => 51; # number of "edges" die if not N % 2 # (1) prohibit odd nodes number or N > 51; # (2) "template" limitation say '_' . substr LETTERS, 0, N; my $last = substr LETTERS, N - 1, 1; # "collect" last line here for ( 1 .. N - 1 ) { my $s = substr LETTERS, 0, N; my $sfx = substr $s, 0, $_ - 1, ''; $s .= $sfx; # rotate left $sfx = substr $s, $_, 1, '_'; $s .= $sfx; # ...& append replaced diagonal item say $s; $last .= substr $s, -1; } say $last . '_'; __END__