#! perl -slw
use strict;

my @lines = <DATA>;

my $mask = chr(32) x length $lines[ 0 ];
$mask |= $_ for @lines;

my $templ = '';
$templ .= 'a' . length( $1 ) . 'x' . length( $2 ) . ' '
    while $mask =~ m[([^ ]+)( +|$)]g;

print $templ;

## Count the false fields and determin the left/right alignments:
my( @left, @right, @blanks, $nFields );
for ( @lines ) {
    my @fields = unpack $templ, $_;
    $nFields = $#fields;
    for my $field ( 0 .. $#fields ) {
        $right[  $field ] = 1 if substr( $fields[ $field ], 0, 1 ) eq ' ';
        $left[   $field ] = 1 if substr( $fields[ $field ], -1   ) eq ' ';
        $blanks[ $field ]++   unless     $fields[ $field ]         =~ m[\S];
    }
}

my $reField = qr[a\d+x\d+\s]; ## Simplifies template adjustment regex.

## adjusted template fields backwards
## to ensure that we don't screw up the indexing.
for my $field ( reverse 0 .. $nFields ) {

    ## Skip unless a false field
    next unless defined $blanks[ $field ]
            and $blanks[ $field ] > ( @lines / 2 );

    my $keep; ## Number of template fields to keep

    ## If the preceding field is left aligned
    ## and the following is not right aligned
    if( $field and $left[ $field -1 ]
    and $field < $nFields and not $right[ $field + 1 ]
    ) {
        warn "Amalgamating field $field with the prevous field\n";
        $keep = $field - 1;
    }
    ## If the preceding field is right aligned
    ## and the following is not left aligned
    elsif( $field < $nFields and $right[ $field + 1 ]
      and  $field  and not $left[ $field - 1 ]
    ) {
        warn "Amalgamating field $field with the next field\n";
        $keep = $field;
    }
    ## If preceding is left and following is right aligned
    ## bellyache and do nothing.
    else {
        warn "Field $field is probably a false field, but it is not possible\n"
           . "to determine which adjacent field to amalgamate it with?";
        next; ## Update.
   }

   ## Amalgamate the appropriate template fields
    $templ =~ s[
        ( ${reField}{$keep} )
        a (\d+) x (\d+) \s
        a (\d+) x (\d+) \s
    ][
        $1 . 'a'  . ($2 + $3 + $4) . 'x' . $5 . ' '
    ]xe or warn 'No match'; ## Belache if the regex fails.
}

print $templ;

{
    local $\;
    ## Split the records and output delimited by '|'
    print join '|', unpack $templ, $_ for @lines;
}

__DATA__
The First One Here Is Longer. Collie SN      262287630  77312    93871  MVP  abc de  gh
A  Second (PART) here         First In 20 MT 169287655  506666   61066  RTD  abc    fgh
3rd Person "Something"        X&Y No SH      564287705  45423    52443  RTE  abc     gh
The Fourth Person 20          MLP 4000       360505504  3530     72201  VRE  abc     gh
The Fifth Name OR Something   Twin 200 SH    469505179  3530     72201  VRE  abc    fgh
The Sixth Person OR Item      MLP            260505174  3,530   72,201  VRE  abc    fgh
70 The Seventh Record         MLP            764205122  3530     72201  VRE  abc     gh
The Eighth Person MLP         MLP            160545154  3530      7220  VRE  abc     gh

##</code><code>##

c:\test>628055
a29x1 a11x1 a2x1 a9x2 a6x2 a6x2 a3x2 a3x1 a2x1 a4x0
Amalgamating field 8 with the next field
Amalgamating field 2 with the prevous field
a29x1 a14x1 a9x2 a6x2 a6x2 a3x2 a3x1 a7x0
The First One Here Is Longer.|Collie SN     |262287630|77312 | 93871|MVP|abc|de  gh
A  Second (PART) here        |First In 20 MT|169287655|506666| 61066|RTD|abc|   fgh
3rd Person "Something"       |X&Y No SH     |564287705|45423 | 52443|RTE|abc|    gh
The Fourth Person 20         |MLP 4000      |360505504|3530  | 72201|VRE|abc|    gh
The Fifth Name OR Something  |Twin 200 SH   |469505179|3530  | 72201|VRE|abc|   fgh
The Sixth Person OR Item     |MLP           |260505174|3,530 |72,201|VRE|abc|   fgh
70 The Seventh Record        |MLP           |764205122|3530  | 72201|VRE|abc|    gh
The Eighth Person MLP        |MLP           |160545154|3530  |  7220|VRE|abc|    gh