$choices = ",1,2,3,4,5,6,";

print "Perl script output - <br>choices list before regex = $choices\n";
#string cleanup
$choices =~ s/^,//;
$choices =~ s/,$//;
print "<br>choices list after regex = $choices\n";
@split_list = split(/,+/, $choices);
# debugging output to check split
for $i (0 .. $#pub_list) {
    print "<br>choice $i = $pub_list[$i]\n";
}

$data{$user_type}{$user_company$}{$user_lname}{'choice_list'} = [ @split_list ];

$vars = {
	data => \%data,
};
$template->process($template_file, $vars);