#!/usr/bin/perl

use strict;

open (INFILE, "$ARGV[0]");
my @lines = <INFILE>;
close (INFILE);

my $responses = 0;
foreach (@lines) {

    if ($responses < $ARGV[1]) {
        $responses++
    } else {
        $responses = 1;
    }

    chomp $lines[$_];
    print $lines[$_] . $responses . "\n"
}
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input.txt

test
test
test
test
test
test
test
test
test
test
test
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Called as:

{C} > test input.txt
test1
test1
test1
test1
test1
test1
test1
test1
test1
test1
test1

{C} > test input.txt 5
test1
test2
test3
test4
test5
test1
test2
test3
test4
test5
test1
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That's great.  I'm on the right path.  Let me throw in another curve.

Let's say my input file is as follows:

jack test is a good boy
jill test is a good boy
john test is a good boy
mary test is a good boy
paul test is a good boy
link test is a good boy
karl test is a good boy

Using a simliar script, how would i have it sniff out the text "test" and then serialize the response per the same type of scheme inputing the number of times I want to serialize it?  Let's say I want to use 5 times so the results would be:

jack test1 is a good boy
jill test2 is a good boy
john test3 is a good boy
mary test4 is a good boy
paul test5 is a good boy
link test1 is a good boy
karl test2 is a good boy

and what have you tried in order to reach your goal ? please show us so we can direct you on 'the right path'. have you tried modifying the example VinsWorldcom gave ? what was your conclusion and what difficulty did you encounter ?

I think you should get a Perl book(maybe this one) and try to read it

perl -pe's/(?<=test)/ $state++ % 5 + 1 /e'
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Thanks to those that helped me answer this poser. I'm not very fluent in perl, and just wanted to ask for some advice from people who know more about it than me. Thank You Very Much!

Homework?

#!/usr/bin/perl

use strict;

my $max = 3;
my $counter = 1;

while (<DATA>) {
    chomp;
    print "${_}$counter\n";
    $counter == $max ? $counter = 1 : $counter++;
}
__DATA__
test
test
test
test
test
test
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