use strict; use warnings; my $player = 'Bingo'; my $parent = 'Bob'; my $memberid = 'sad324gsg'; print format_email_text(30,50, "Player Name", $player, "Parent's Name", $parent, "Member ID", $memberid); sub format_email_text { my ($name, $val, $out, $nd, $vd); $nd = shift; $vd = shift; while ($name = shift) { $val = shift; $out .= sprintf('%-'.$nd.'s %-'.$vd.'s', "$name:", $val) . "\n"; } return $out; }