Is your script located in the same folder as the html files ?. If not add the directory to get the full path like this

#!perl
use strict;
use warnings;
my $files_dir = 'C:\Dwimperl\Perl\1993';
opendir (my $dir_handle, $files_dir);
while (my $filename = readdir($dir_handle)){
  next unless -f $files_dir.'/'.$filename;
  print "$filename\n";
}
[download]

I'm guessing you want to process each line and write it out (untested)

#!perl
use strict;
use warnings;
use HTML::Strip;

my $hs = HTML::Strip->new();

my $files_dir = 'C:\Dwimperl\Perl';
my $write_dir = 'G:\research\sec filings 10k and 10Q\data\filing docs\
+1993\Clean';

opendir (my $dir_handle, $files_dir);
while (my $filename = readdir($dir_handle)){
  
  next unless -f $files_dir.'/'.$filename;
  print "Procesing $filename\n";
  open my $fh_in, '<', $files_dir.'/'.$filename
      or die "failed to open '$filename' for read";
  
  open my $fh_out, '>', $write_dir.'/'.$filename
      or die "failed to open '$filename' for write";
   
  my $count=0;   
  while (my $line = <$fh_in>) { 
    my $clean_text = $hs->parse($line);
    print $fh_out "$clean_text\n";
    ++$count;
  }   
  $hs->eof;  
  print "$count lines read from $filename\n;"  
}
[download]

poj

Hi poj, your script will print the file names. Where are we going here?

see my reply here Re^4: Read files not subdirectories

Hi poj, corrected a couple of stupid things on my part (e.g., ensuring my portable hard drive is available/plugged in, and actually opening the output file for output). Now gives me a "failed to open" for the output file at line 12. Here is the revised code. I apologize for the hassle.

 #! /usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;
use warnings;
use lib "c:/strawberry/perl/site/lib";
use HTML::Strip;

my $hs = HTML::Strip->new();

#Where I will store the end results;
my $write_dir = 'F:\research\sec filings 10k and 10Q\data\filing docs\
+1993\Clean';

open (my $outfile_hand, '>', $write_dir) || die "failed to open '$writ
+e_dir' <$!>";

#Where the files with the HTML tags are located; 
my $files_dir  = 'C:\Dwimperl\Perl';#\1993';

#Open the directory where the target files with HTML tags are located;
+ 
#Why am I doing this? Stores file names in a directory handle?
opendir (my $dir_handle, $files_dir) || die "failed to open '$files_di
+r' <$!>"; 



#Loop through each entry/file in the directory;
#What is readdir doing here? It's not really reading anything;
#Is it simply advancing us to the next entry?;
#Seems like the real READ occurs via the OPEN statement below;
while (my $file = readdir($dir_handle) )      { 
    
    next unless -f $file; 
    #next if $file eq '.' or $file eq '..';   
     
    #Open the current file so I can strip the HTML tags ??? ;      
    open my $file_handle, '<', $file or die "failed to open '$file' <$
+!>";
       
        #Read the current file one line at a time??;
        while (my $line = <$file_handle>) {     
           
########The WHILE statement above must return FALSE cuz the program ne
+ver makes it here;
           
        #Strip the HTML tags??;
        my $clean_text = $hs->parse( '  ' );
        
        #Save the clean (no HTML tags) text file in a new file/locatio
+n??;
        print $outfile_hand "$file\n";
        
       $hs->eof;
   
   } 
           
    }
 
close();

closedir $dir_handle;
[download]

You are trying to open a file handle to directory

open (my $outfile_hand, '>', $write_dir

Try

open (my $outfile_hand, '>', $write_dir.'/clean.txt'
poj

We're close, writes the files to output location, but the files are empty (size 0 kb). Ideas?

Works! Very grateful for you time and patience with me. You're the best!