#!/usr/bin/perl

# Splits a data file into unique files based on each lines first 6 characters
use warnings;
use strict;

my $file = shift;

bad_format() if ($file eq "" );

open FILE, $file or die "Could not open file [$file]\n";

my ($fname) = $file =~ m/(\w+)\..*/;
my %files = ();

while (my $line = <FILE>) {
	if ($line !~ /^\s*$/) {
		my $fc = substr($line, 0, 6); # first characters
		if (!exists $files{$fc}) {	
			open ($files{$fc}, ">$fname\_$fc.txt") or die;	
		}
		print {$files{$fc}} $line;			
	} 
}

while (my ($key, $value) = each (%files)) {
	print "Created 	$fname\_$key.txt\n";
	close $value;
}
close FILE;