$dir="c:/corrupt";
use File::Find;
find(\&dofile, $dir);

sub dofile{
if($File::Find::name =~ /.txt/){

open(FILE, "$File::Find::name") or die "$!";
@lines=<FILE>;
close(FILE);

#remove the offending space on 1st line
if(substr($lines[0], 3, 1) eq " "){

                     #get mtime
                     $ENV{TZ}="GMT";
                     $savetime=(stat("$File::Find::name"))[9];

                     print "corrupt line 1, repairing $File::Find::name...";
                     $lines[0]=substr($lines[0], 0, 3, "") . substr($lines[0], 1);
                     unlink("$File::Find::name") or die "$!";
                     open (FILE, ">>$File::Find::name") or die "$!";
                     print FILE @lines;
                     
                     #write back old mtime
                     utime($savetime, $savetime, "$File::Find::name") or die "$!";

                     close(FILE);
                     print "done\n";
}




}}