while (my $line = <$original_fh>) { print "Enter the desired number of columns: "; my $nr = ; chomp($nr); $line =~ s/((\w\w\t){$nr})/$1\n/g; $line =~ s/\t/,/g; $line =~ s/(\d{2})/$replace[$1]/g; print $final_fh $line; } #### while (my $line = <$original_fh>) { for my $file (@files) { print "Enter the desired number of columns: "; my $nr = ; chomp($nr); $line =~ s/((\w\w\t){$nr})/$1\n/g; } $line =~ s/\t/,/g; $line =~ s/(\d{2})/$replace[$1]/g; print $final_fh $line; }