thanks for the reply Moritz.
I tried splitting, but it runs all items on column 1 into $items_in_line[0], all items in column 2 into $items_in_line[1] etc. My problem is that I can't seem to get into, and be able to reference, individual items within, say, $items_in_line[0].
Any further thoughts?
Thanks v much again.
Tedffo