open(my $out, ">C:/Documents and Settings/mydir/Desktop/ltvec_data.txt"); my $first_line = ; chomp $first_line; while(){ chomp; my @fields = split /\t/; my $well_position = $fields[0]; my $sample = $fields[1]; $sample =~ /(\d+)(.*)/; my $barcode = $fields[2]; my $block_id = $fields[3]; my $name = substr($block_id,11); print $out "$well_position\t$1\t$2\t$barcode\t$name\n"; } close $out; __DATA__ Position Sample Barcode A01 12032 B1 NUBI825632 XXXXX Glyc 01/07/2009 B01 12032 L1 NUBI825757 XXXXX Glyc 01/07/2009 C01 12032 L2 NUBI825872 XXXXX Glyc 01/07/2009 D01 12032 L3 NUBI825997 XXXXX Glyc 01/07/2009 E01 12166 B1 NUBI826118 XXXXX Glyc 01/07/2009