my @numbers = ( ['|'] , ['|','|'] , ['|','|','|'] , ['|','|','|','|'] , ['|','|','|','|','|'] , ['|','|','|','|','|','|'] , ['|','|','|','|','|','|','|'] , ['|','|','|','|','|','|','|','|'] , ['|','|','|','|','|','|','|','|','|'] , ['|','|','|','|','|','|','|','|','|','|'] , ) ; foreach ( @numbers ) { print scalar @$_; print "\n"; }