Thanks for your help - still not working though! Best to assume ive made a schoolboy error somewhere. Heres my current code. OUTFILE3 is now blank. 
local $/ = '';

#    run script

while (<$INFILE1>){

#    define variables

    $FULL_LINE = $_;
    $TABDISPLAY = 0;
    $FIELDDISPLAY = 0;
    $DATEFIELD = 0;
    $SHORTLINE = substr($FULL_LINE,0,length($FULL_LINE)-2);
    @LINEARRAY[0..9] = split(/"+/, $SHORTLINE);

#    decide if input line is table name or field name

if (
      my ($table) = 
         /^ADD TABLE "([^"]+)"/
   ) {
    $TABDISPLAY=1;
print OUTFILE3  ("table=" . "$table \n");
   }

   elsif (
      my ($field, $table, $type) =
         /^ADD FIELD "([^"]+)" OF "([^"]+)" AS (\w+)/
   ) {
      my ($format) = /^   FORMAT "([^"]+)"/m;
        $FIELDDISPLAY=1;
        my ($format)=$FIELDLENGTH;
print OUTFILE3  ("field=" . "$field \n");
print OUTFILE3  ("type=" . "$type \n");
print OUTFILE3  ("length=" . "$FIELDLENGTH \n");
   }

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In reply to Re^2: How to skip a line? by Anonymous Monk
in thread How to skip a line? by Anonymous Monk

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