use List::MoreUtils qw(natatime); my $to_split = "'A','B','C','D','E','F','G','H','I','J','K','L','M','N','O','P','Q','R','S','T','U','V','W','X','Y','Z'"; my $it = natatime 5, split /,/, $to_split; while( my @vals = $it->() ) { local $" = ','; print "@vals\t"; } print "\n"; #### 'A','B','C','D','E' 'F','G','H','I','J' 'K','L','M','N','O' 'P','Q','R','S','T' 'U','V','W','X','Y' 'Z'