sysopen: Invalid argument at read_tab_delim.pl line 17

the relevant part goes from line 1 to line 17, right? If you condense your code for posting, be sure to run it again for the sake of consistency between errors and code. It helps a lot in helping you *not* being sent off chasing bugs at wrong addresses...

_($_=" "x(1<<5)."?\n".q·/)Oo.  G°\        /
                              /\_¯/(q    /
----------------------------  \__(m.====·.(_("always off the crowd"))."·
");sub _{s./.($e="'Itrs `mnsgdq Gdbj O`qkdq")=~y/"-y/#-z/;$e.e && print}