Hello there, I am a new user here and new to perl as well. I am wondering if someone can help me with an issue I am having with CSV files. I have downloaded CSV files from an internet source (it is marketing data). I have written a PERL program to read the contents of the file so that I can work with the data. However, when I read the file and print it to a different file or to screen I get an output that looks something like this: 

 
礀漀最愀 洀愀琀 cresce
+nt moon yoga mat洀愀栀愀 礀&#2841
+6;最愀 洀愀琀 silk yoga mat bag&#
+29952;渀椀焀甀攀 礀漀
+最愀 洀愀琀 tapas ultra yoga mat&
+#30976;漀最愀 洀愀琀 
+欀椀琀 monster yoga mat漀爀最&#24
+832;渀椀挀 挀漀琀琀&#
+28416;渀 礀漀最愀 洀&
+#24832;琀 designer yoga mat礀漀最愀&#81
+92;洀愀琀 眀椀瀀攀&#2
+9440; yoga mat care渀漀渀 琀漀&#3
+0720;椀挀 礀漀最愀 &#
+27904;愀琀 power yoga mat漀洀 礀&
+#28416;最愀 洀愀琀 wholesale yoga
+ products眀栀漀氀攀猀愀&#27
+648;攀 礀漀最愀 攀&#2
+8928;甀

[download]
After playing with he data in different ways, I found a couple of things: 1. If I copy the data (copy/paste) to a new csv file, the output looks fine. 2. So I thought that since the data is fine, there must be something wrong with the file itself as I have downloded it from the internet. So I went in the property and found the message: "This file came from another computer and might be blocked to help protect this computer". There was an unblock option right next to this message which I pressed to unlock the file. I tried running the program again on the unblocked file but the output is still non-readable. Does anyone know if there is a fix to this because I have many files that I am working with and it would be a big hassle to copy paste data into new files. It would defeat the whole idea of learning programming. Thanks for any help. =================================== The original CSV looks like (it is all English): 
 utopian yoga mat    12    58    $0.95    2/98 ads    2/98 ads    105/
+307 days    2011/07/21 08:01:00    2010/09/20 10:28:00
crescent moon yoga mat    18    58    $0.56    3/140 ads    1/140 ads 
+   117/247 days    2011/07/21 06:29:00    2010/11/19 12:58:00
maha yoga mat    69    91    $1.23    2/107 ads    1/107 ads    130/24
+7 days    2011/07/23 06:16:00    2010/11/19 10:33:00
silk yoga mat bag    59    91    $1.04    4/192 ads    2/192 ads    12
+0/247 days    2011/07/23 06:20:00    2010/11/19 01:12:00
unique yoga mat    170    110    $1.44    4/138 ads    2/138 ads    34
+6/708 days    2011/07/23 09:10:00    2009/08/15 10:35:00
tapas ultra yoga mat    16    110    $0.76    4/92 ads    1/92 ads    
+71/307 days    2011/07/23 09:46:00    2010/09/20 08:14:00
yoga mat kit    41    140    $1.06    4/197 ads    1/197 ads    115/32
+2 days    2011/07/23 10:00:00    2010/09/05 07:36:00
monster yoga mat    27    140    $0.70    1/89 ads    1/89 ads    128/
+307 days    2011/07/22 09:31:00    2010/09/20 08:03:00
organic cotton yoga mat    56    140    $1.23    8/261 ads    2/261 ad
+s    130/305 days    2011/07/23 07:12:00    2010/09/22 12:16:00
designer yoga mat    67    170    $1.28    6/206 ads    2/206 ads    1
+28/247 days    2011/07/23 02:55:00

[download]
Also, the data is obtained form a paid marketing data site so there is no direct URL provided, A window opens up with the download link (JAVASCRIPT) to download the CSV file. I am downloading manually not sure how you would use LWP::Simple to d/l that data .

In reply to difficulty reading csv file by foxycleop

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