in reply to Multiplication table

Here is how i would do it. Don't print out the values as you calculate them - instead, store them in a 2-D array: 
sub get_table {
   my $max = $_[0] - 1;
   my @table;
   for my $y (0..$max) {
      for my $x (0..$max) {
         $table[$y][$x] = ($x + 1) * ($y + 1);
      }
   }
   return @table;
}

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so that you can use existing CPAN modules to render them. For example, via Text::Table: 
use Text::Table;

my $max   = shift || 12;
my @table = get_table($max);

my $text_table = Text::Table->new(1..$max);
$text_table->load(@table);
print $text_table->body;

[download]
or an XHTML table via DBIx::XHTML_Table: 
use DBIx::XHTML_Table;

my $max = shift || 12;
print DBIx::XHTML_Table
   ->new([get_table($max)],[])
   ->output({no_head=>1})
;

[download]

jeffa

L-LL-L--L-LL-L--L-LL-L--
-R--R-RR-R--R-RR-R--R-RR
B--B--B--B--B--B--B--B--
H---H---H---H---H---H---
(the triplet paradiddle with high-hat)

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