split(/,/,@array1,4);

##</code><code>##

    $list=split(/,/,@array1,4);

##</code><code>##

foreach my $line (<DATA>) { #assuming you have a data source
    chomp $line;
    @lines = split /\\n/, $line, 4;
    foreach $l (@lines) {  # <--that's an L, not a one
        $l =~ s/^,//;
        @elems = split /,/, $l;
        print "$_ " for @elems; print "\n";
    }
}

__DATA__
name1,a1,b1,c1,\n,name2,a2,b2,c2\nname3,a3,b3,c3,\n,name4,a4,b4,c4
name5,a5,b5,c5,\n,name6,a6,b6,c6\nname7,a7,b7,c7,\n,name8,a8,b8,c8

##</code><code>##

name1 a1 b1 c1
name2 a2 b2 c2
name3 a3 b3 c3
name4 a4 b4 c4
name5 a5 b5 c5
name6 a6 b6 c6
name7 a7 b7 c7
name8 a8 b8 c8