opendir(DIRHANDLE, $testdir) or die "couldn't open directory: ".$testdir;
@filenames = readdir(DIRHANDLE); 

closedir(DIRHANDLE);

foreach $file (@filenames)
{
chomp $file;
#pay close attention to the logic handling:
if (($file ne ".") or ($file ne "..")) {
   print "parsing: ".$file;
   $x = <STDIN>;
   open (FILEHANDLE, $file) or die "couldnt open file ".$file;
   $line = <FILEHANDLE>;
   $rep = substr($line, $position, $length, $value);
   close(FILEHANDLE);
   }# end if
}

print "I think we're done here.";