Just want to point out that this will cause problems (i.e. an infinite loop) if you hit EOF (end of file) here:

        $line = <$FILE>;
        until ( $line =~ /^c/ or $line =~ /^mt?\d+/ ) {
            ...
            $line = <$FILE>;
        }
[download]

I like to write my parsing loops so that I only read lines in one place - like in the outer while statement. Then I only have to check for EOF in one place.

Also, here's a simpler way to look at the problem. You have three kinds of lines:

• Comments (m/^c/)
• Initial m-block lines (m/^m/)
• Continuation lines (m/^\s/)

You can write a simple "event processing" loop as follows:

while (<$FILE>) {
  if (m/^m/) { ... }
  elsif (m/^\s/) { ... }
  elsif (m/^c/) { ... }
  else { die "whoops - didn't expect: $_" }
}
[download]

Now you just have to work out what to do in each of the three cases. My suggestion is to create a variable to represent the current m-block being recognized. The actions for each type of line would go something like this:

• Continuation line: add the line to the current block.
• Initial m-block line: process the current block, reset it and then add the line to the current block
• Comments: process the current block and reset it

Also, at the end of the loop you'll have to see if there's a block that needs to be processed.

---

---

Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!

Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.

Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.

Please read these before you post! —

• How do I compose an effective node title?
• How do I post a question effectively?
• Markup in the Monastery

Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:

a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr

You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)

	For:		Use:
	&		&
	<		&lt;
	>		&gt;
	[		&#91;
	]		&#93;

Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?

See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.