$ perl -Mstrict -Mwarnings -MData::Dumper -e ' sub groupsOf (&$@); open my $inFH, q{<}, \ <; sub groupsOf (&$@) { my $rcToRun = shift; my $groupsOf = shift; my $rcDoIt; $rcDoIt = sub { $rcToRun->( map shift, 1 .. ( @_ < $groupsOf ? @_ : $groupsOf ) ), @_ ? &$rcDoIt : (); }; &$rcDoIt; } print Data::Dumper->Dumpxs( [ \ @arr ], [ qw{ *arr } ] );' @arr = ( [ 'a', 'b', 'c' ], [ 'd', 'e', 'f' ], [ 'g', 'h' ] ); $ #### $ perl -Mstrict -Mwarnings -E ' > open my $inFH, q{<}, \ < a > b > c > d > e > f > g > h > EOD > > while ( not eof $inFH ) > { > my( $i, $j, $k ) = > map { chomp; $_ } > map { eof $inFH ? () : scalar <$inFH> } > 1 .. 3; > say > q{$i - }, defined $i ? qq{$i; } : q{undef; }, > q{$j - }, defined $j ? qq{$j; } : q{undef; }, > q{$k - }, defined $k ? $k : q{undef}; > }' $i - a; $j - b; $k - c $i - d; $j - e; $k - f $i - g; $j - h; $k - undef $