c:\test>perl -e"printf qq[Line %010d\n], $_ for 1 .. 25" > junk.dat c:\test>type junk.dat Line 0000000001 Line 0000000002 Line 0000000003 Line 0000000004 Line 0000000005 Line 0000000006 Line 0000000007 Line 0000000008 Line 0000000009 Line 0000000010 Line 0000000011 Line 0000000012 Line 0000000013 Line 0000000014 Line 0000000015 Line 0000000016 Line 0000000017 Line 0000000018 Line 0000000019 Line 0000000020 Line 0000000021 Line 0000000022 Line 0000000023 Line 0000000024 Line 0000000025