sub load_array($$)
    {
    #the first element we pass to this function is a 
    #array reference, the second is the name of a file
    my ($a_ref, $file) = @_;
    #attempt to open the file or quit executing our program
    open (FILE, $file) or die "Can't open $file:$!\n";
    #take all the lines in the file, and put them into the
    #array that $a_ref points to.
    @{$a_ref} = <FILE>;
    # close the file... duh I guess
    close FILE;
    # remove all of the carriage returns from the end of
    # each element in the array
    chomp @{$a_ref};
    }

# to call this routine
my @array;
&load_array(\@array, # pass in the reference to the array
            "test.txt"); # the name of our file