open (A1, ") { my $in = $_; chomp $in; push (@array1, [split(//, $in)]); } while () { my $in = $_; chomp $in; push (@array2, [split(//, $in)]); } my $length = $#array1; my $total = 0; for (my $x = 0; $x <= $length; $x++) { my $smallLength = scalar(@{$array1[$x]}); for(my $q = 0; $q <= $smallLength; $q++) { if($array1[$x][$q] =~ /^(\+|\_)$/ && $array2[$x][$q] =~ /^[A-Za-z]$/) { splice(@{$array2[$x]}, $q, 0, ''); } if($array2[$x][$q] =~ /^(\+|\_)$/ && $array1[$x][$q] =~ /^[A-Za-z]$/) { splice(@{$array1[$x]}, $q, 0, ''); } $total++; } }