st4k,
The problem is the way you have your data entered into the files. I can tell that your files look like this: 
file1:    file2:    file3:
one\n     four\n    seven\n
two\n     five\n    eight\n
three^Z   six^Z     nine^Z
The ^Z represent the end of file character. So that when you dump the array using: 
print @out;
There are no line breaks between three-four and six-seven. To correct this you should chomp each read and store all the data without newlines: 
for (my $i = 0; $i < $num; $i++) {
   print "$ARGV[$i]\n";
   open (FH, "$ARGV[$i]") || die "Cant open: $!";
   while (<FH>) {
     chomp;  ## <- added this line
     push @out, lc;
   }
   close FH || die "Cant open: $!";
}

[download]
To print this as you would expect, use this instead: 
print join (@out,"\n");

[download]
This tells print to make one long string with a newline inserted between each element of @out.

Hope this helps.

--Jim

In reply to Re: I'm so confused by jlongino
in thread I'm so confused by st4k

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