Thanks pfaut,

The input file contents looks like this:-


Ref_no     Supp_co Order_ Cat_num Carr_co Unit_pri Line_pric Ca User_ 
+Auth_dat B



0312003620 SLUM02  M0551  RT3420    4.04     8.25      8.25  P  UFJGC 
+04/01/98 E
0312003619 SLUM02  M0550  RT3420    4.04     8.25      8.25  P  UFJGC 
+04/01/98 E
0312003617 SLUM02  M0548  RT3420    4.04     8.25      8.25  P  UFJGC 
+04/01/98 E
0312003616 SLUM02  M0547  RT3420    4.04     8.25      8.25  P  UFJGC 
+04/01/98 E
0312003684 SLUM02  M0615  RT3420    4.04    11.90     11.90  P  UFJGC 
+04/01/98 E
0312003613 SLUM02  M0544  RT3420    4.04    11.90     11.90  P  UFJGC 
+04/01/98 E
0312003586 SLUM02  M0517  RT3420    4.04    11.90     11.90  P  UFJGC 
+04/01/98 E
[download]

I have to check each line is a valid record rather than a header line or blank line (either of which appears a few hundred times throughout the file).

The actual record formatting is to remove the decimal places and insert leading zeroes on fields 5,6 & 7. I also have to interrogate the year in the penultimate field - the year determining which file the record is written to.

The code I have so far is:-

while ($line = <INPUT>) {
  chomp $line;
    
# Check for lines to be discarded or kept
  if (substr($line,0,9) =~ /[0-9]{9}/) {
# Lines are valid entries to be written to file if first 9 characters 
+are 
# numeric, file used dependant on date of invoice details.    
   ($newline, $year) = validLine($line);
      
    if ($year ne "02") {
      open (YEAR, ">>".$path."year$year.txt") || die "Cannot open file
+: $!\n";
      print YEAR "$newline\n";
      $y_count++;
      close YEAR  || die "Cannot close file: $!\n";
    } else {
      print OUTPUT "$newline\n";
      $o_count++;
    }
  } else {
    print DISCARD "$line\n";
    $d_count++;
    next;
  }    
}
[download]

with a subroutine, validLine(), that breaks each line using substr to remove the decimals, insert leading zeroes, get the year and re construct the line (I was using a split on spaces at this point but have had to change it as not every record has the same number of fields and the line must be reconstructed to take this into account).

Appreciate any further comments!

elbow

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