sub countLeadingTabSpaces { my($data) = @_; my @string=split(/\t/,$data); my $numberofLeadingTabs=0; my $size = @string; my $TabSpace = ""; my $loopBreak = 0; for (my $count = 0; $count < $size; $count++) { if($loopBreak==0) { if($string[$count] =~/([A-Za-z0-9@])/) { $loopBreak = 1; }else{ ++$numberofLeadingTabs; } } } print "=>NumberofLeadingTabs: ".$numberofLeadingTabs; return $numberofLeadingTabs; }