Thanks. All the files were in the @files array, evidenced from a print statement, and none of the $avg was close to one. Closing the file handle after the foreach loop did the trick. I'll still experiment with the Data::Dumper module you suggested.

Thanks!

BTW, does anyone know how to create arrays dynamically? e.g.

@files = ("a1.txt","a2.txt","a3.txt",...."an.txt");#n=50
foreach $file (@files)
{
   my ($h1, $t1) = split(/\./,$file);
   #use the value of $h1 to create a new array
   @{$h1}; #to create arrays @a1, @a2, @a3, ....@an
}
[download]