my $count = 0; ... for my $vk (@vk) { if ($count != 10) { print OUT $vk.';'; ++ $count; } else { print OUT "\n"; $count = 0; } } #### c:\@Work\Perl\monks>perl -wMstrict -e "my $count = 0; my @vk = qw(zero one two THREE four five six SEVEN eight nine ten); ;; for my $vk (@vk) { if ($count != 3) { print $vk.';'; ++ $count; } else { print qq{\n}; $count = 0; } } " zero;one;two; four;five;six; eight;nine;ten;