$record = "abcdefghk     Year Sales: 0123456.01     peter  x193v 20i39 ";
for (unpack "A9 A17 A10 A5 A6 A1 A*", $record) {
        $i++;
        print $_,"\n" if $i%2;
        }

##</code><code>##

@format=(9, 17, 10, 5, 6, 1, 11);

print_record($record, @format);

sub print_record {
        $record = shift;
        @format = @_;
        for (@format) {
                $i++;
                $value = substr($record, $pointer, $_);
                $pointer += $_;
                print "value: '$value'\n" if $i % 2;
                }
        }