Here's the condition you're talking about:

if ((scalar @$ort_log[$site_index])==scalar '+')
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The cause of your problem is that you're using "==" to compare strings, but it's only useful for comparing numbers. You need to compare with "eq" instead. With "==", you're comparing numeric values, which are both zero.

Note also that scalar '+' is the same as '+'. It might also be good to write "@$ort_log[$site_index]" as "${$ort_log}[$site_index]" or "$ort_log->[$site_index]" to make it clear that $ort_log is an array reference. Your comparison would be better written:

if ( '+' eq $ort_log->[$site_index] )
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Hope this helps.