open(my $fh, '<', $inputfile);
  my %line_chars;
  my $line_number = 1;
  while (my $row = <$fh>) {
        if ($line_number > 1) {
              $line_chars{$line_number} =  $line_chars{$line_number - 1} + length($row);
        } 
        else {
              $line_chars{$line_number} =  length($row);
        }
        $line_number++;
  }