my $dolink=$data[0] !~ m/[\=\%]/; 
    for my $word(@data){ 
      $check++;
      print $fh_out '<td>';
      if($check==1 && $dolink ) {
         print $fh_out '<a href="'.$href.'" >'.$word.'</a>';   
         }
      else { print $fh_out $word;} 
      print $fh_out '</td>';
      }
[download]

That isnt what you showed as your sample output tho, whole lines were missing ya know. cleaned it up a little too. you dont really want the training TRAILING space in the href= either.