Here is my stab at making it dynamic.

#!/user/bin/perl

use strict;
use warnings;

#----------- define field mappings ---------------------

# hash to map from field i in input to field j in output
# field i is the key to hash, field j is the value of hash

my %from_to = (
        1 => 4,
        2 => 2,
        3 => 1,
        4 => 3,
              );
              
# field length hash...key is the field number, value of hash
# is the length in characters.  Presumes the length of the
# input and output fields are the same.

my %field_len = (
       1 => 10,
       2 => 4,
       3 => 6,
       4 => 6,
                );
                
#---------- setup decode string --------
my $decode_string = "";
foreach my $num (sort keys %from_to)
   {$decode_string .= 'A' . $field_len{$num} . ' '};

#-------------- process files ----------

my @input;
my @output;

foreach my $in_record (<DATA>)
   {
   chomp($in_record);
   print $in_record . " ---> ";
   @input =(unpack $decode_string,$in_record);

   foreach my $index (sort keys %from_to)
      {$output[($from_to{$index}-1)] = $input[($index-1)]};
   my $out_record = join "",@output;
   print $out_record . "\n";
   }
   
    

exit(0);

__END__
AAAAAAAAAA1111BBBBBB222222
BBBBBBBBBB2222CCCCCC333333
CCCCCCCCCC3333DDDDDD444444

[download]

I used the two hashes to contain the mapping of the input field to the output field (%from_to) and the field lengths (%field_len). You, of course, could use whatever strategy you want.

I also have prints in to see how things work.

I had tried to make it more compact by trying to use a dynamic strategy for specifying the array slice as part of the join..decode line. But I couln't figure out (or remember) how to do that.

ack Albuquerque, NM

In reply to Re^3: Seeking an Enlightened Path (Parsing, Translating, Translocating) by ack
in thread Seeking an Enlightened Path (Parsing, Translating, Translocating) by nanotasher

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