$excelfile = "/data/MS/excel/contract_check.xls";

$xls = Spreadsheet::ParseExcel::Simple->read($excelfile);
@sheets = $xls->sheets;
  
while ($sheets[1]->has_data)
{
  @hsbcdata = ();
  @hsbcdataread = $sheets[1]->next_row; 
  
  foreach $_ (@hsbcdataread)
  {
    s/^\s*//;
    s/\s*\r*$//;
    chomp ($_);

    if (/\S+/)
    {
      push (@hsbcdata, $_);
    }

    else
    {
      push (@hsbcdata, "X"); # 
    }
  }

...

}