in reply to complex text file to csv

Do yourself a favour and write the CSV through Text::CSV (it will use Text::CSV_XS for speed if available on your system). It will take care of all quoting issues.

CountZero

A program should be light and agile, its subroutines connected like a string of pearls. The spirit and intent of the program should be retained throughout. There should be neither too little or too much, neither needless loops nor useless variables, neither lack of structure nor overwhelming rigidity." - The Tao of Programming, 4.1 - Geoffrey James

In Section Seekers of Perl Wisdom