# assuming a row of data in $_, and row number == $.

my @fld_names = qw(
    begin agency district ssn serv_per_m serv_per_y serv_per_t
    last_name first_name middle_name cover_group pay_code pay_rate
    earnings holder ret_pcnt surv_ben work_sch cont_amt cont_code stuff
    );

my @fld_types = qw(
    \d \d+ \d+ \d+ \d+ \d+ \d
    \D+ \D \D \d+ \d+ \d+
    \d+\D \s+ \d+ \d+ \d+ \d+\D \d+ .*
    );

my @fld_vals = (
    /(.)(....)(...)(.{9})(..)(..)(.)
      (.{10})(.)(.)(.{5})(..)(.{8})
      (.{7})(.{8})(....)(...)(...)(.{6})(..)(.*)/x );

# now do some testing of values...
for my $i ( 0 .. $#fld_names ) {
    if ( $fld_vals[$i] !~ /^ $fld_types[$i] $/x ) {
        warn sprintf( "Data row %d: bad value in field %d (%s): %s\n",
                       $., $i, $fld_names[$i], $fld_vals[$i] );
    }
}

my %fields;
@fields{@fld_names} = @fld_vals;