What's the rest of the code look like? Also you have some syntax errors

Should look like this

$ecounter=0;
         my @file_line_contents = split (/\|/,$_); 
         while ($ecounter < 45) {
             $ecounter=length($file_line_contents[$ecounter]);
             $ecounter+=1;
         }
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I suppose the code will work but what are you trying to accomplish with it?