in reply to obj dump

OK, in order to even attempt a sensible answer to the question, we'll need more information.

  1. Given the presence of the -s we'll need to know the command line that you use to run the script so we can know valid values for $matchstr, $g, $r and $y.
  2. The script seems to closely tied to the syntax of the input file, so it would be helpful to see some sample data.

Is that more helpful?

p.s. I still think it's a horrible script :)

--
<http://www.dave.org.uk>

"The first rule of Perl club is you don't talk about Perl club."