Here is my perl file: 
#!usr/bin/perl
#
#
$verno = 1.0;
$max_iter = 4;
$max_y_locations = $max_iter;
$y_iter_max = 0;
$x_iter_max = 0;  # Note:0 counts as one iteration
$z_iter_max = 0;
#
$no_energy_bins = 97;                                # 98 bins - [0:97
+]
@spec_cps =  [$no_energy_bins],[$max_y_locations];
@sigma_cps = [$no_energy_bins],[$max_y_locations];
$spec_cps [$no_energy_bins] [$max_y_locations] = 0.0;
$sigma_cps[$no_energy_bins] [$max_y_locations] = 0.0;
#
.
.
.
.
#
do {
    $y_iter_no = $y_iter_no + 1;
    $new_y = $y_old + $del_y * ($y_iter_no - 1);
    $x_iter_no = 0;
     open (OUT, "<$out_file") or die "Cannot open $out_file for readin
+g: $+!";
       while (<OUT>) {
         next unless $_;
         if ($_ && /1tally\s\s(\d+)\s+nps\s=/i) {
          for (my $ii = 0; $ii < 5; $ii++) {
           }
         }
         for (my $ij = 0; $ij < 98; $ij++) {
         if ($_ && /\s\s\s(\d+).(\d+)(\D+)(\d+)\s\s\s(\d+).(\d+)(\D+)(
+\d+)\s(\d+).(\d+)/i) {
          $energy_value = $1.$dot.$2.$3.$4;
          $detector_value = $5.$dot.$6.$7.$8;
          $std_deviation = $9.$dot.$10;
          $kebin=$ij;
          print "kebin=$kebin\n";
          print "energy=$energy_value\n";
          print "detvalue=$detector_value\n";
          print "sigma=$std_deviation\n";
          $energy_bin[$kebin] = $energy_value;
          $spec_cps[$kebin][$y_iter_no] = $detector_value;
          $sigma_cps[$kebin][$y_iter_no] = $std_deviation;
          }
         }
   }
#
     close (OUT);
#
     print "y=$new_y\n";
     print "z=$new_z\n";
     print "x=$new_x\n";
     print "kount=$kount\n";
     $kount = $kount + 1;
#
#    printf PLOUT ("%.3f  %.5e %.5f \n",$new_y,$detector_value,$std_de
+viation,);
#
} until $z_iter_no > $z_iter_max;
#
} until $x_iter_no > $x_iter_max;
#
} until $y_iter_no > $y_iter_max;
#
    for ( my $i = 0; $i < 97; $i++) {
          for ( my $j = 0; $j < $max_y_locations; $j++ ) {
               printf PLOUT ("%.3f %.5e %.5e \n",
#              printf PLOUT (" \n",
                      $energy_bin[$i],$spec_cps[$i],[$j],$sigma_cps[$i
+],[$j] ) ;
            }
    }
#
     close (PLOUT);

[download]
Here is the data file I am trying to read: 
.
.
.
1tally  18        nps =     3785697
           tally type 8    pulse height distribution.                 
+  units   number
           tally for  photons

 cell  3
      energy
    0.0000E+00   0.00000E+00 0.0000
    1.0000E-05   2.64152E-07 1.0000
    5.0000E-02   0.00000E+00 0.0000
    6.0000E-02   0.00000E+00 0.0000
    7.0000E-02   0.00000E+00 0.0000
    8.0000E-02   0.00000E+00 0.0000
    9.0000E-02   0.00000E+00 0.0000
    1.0000E-01   0.00000E+00 0.0000
.
.
.
    9.7000E-01   0.00000E+00 0.0000
    9.8000E-01   0.00000E+00 0.0000
    9.9000E-01   0.00000E+00 0.0000
    1.0000E+00   0.00000E+00 0.0000
      total      5.28304E-07 0.7071

[download]
So I am trying to read the three columns after energy and before total.
I did this by locating the 1tally line and skipping 5 lines, or so I thought.
What the %&&!^^@@* am I doing wrong?
I know I am making this a lot harder than necessary.

The print statements are just for debugging.
The portion of code of interest in between the open out and close out statements.
Thanks in advance for any tips,
Bruce

Edit: g0n - readmore tags

In reply to Reading column data from a file by pattobw

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