Thank you Laurent_R for the advice and encouragement. Reading the files line by line instead of slurping seems to be the consensus. I'm not at work anymore, but I will post a sample of the format, I don't want to go by memory now as memory is another one of my weaknesses. Tonight though, I'll do like you said and create some dummy content and see what works and what doesn't.

In reply to Re^2: Perl beginner here, needs a shove in the right direction. by rfromp
in thread Perl beginner here, needs a shove in the right direction. by rfromp

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