foreach my $results (@sorted) {                                         
    my @listOfItems = split( /\./, $results);

      if ( $listOfItems[0] =~ /literal/ ) {
        $listOfItems[0] = join(".", $listOfItems[0..1]);                    
      }
  
     push ( my @array1, $listOfItems[0]);
     push ( my @array2, $listOfItems[1]);
     push ( my @array3, $listOfItems[2]);

     # @array1 should contain the newly conjoined $listOfItems[0]
     # My bad ! I had some typos in my sample code. It wasnt a 
     # cut and paste from my terminal. So my mistake guys, sorry!
     # This is what I was actually working with.
    
    }