Hello guys,

I am trying to use PERL to extract paragraphs from a text. However, the code does not generate the results I expect. Here are the codes I wrote:

my $string = <<'TEXT';
     Assembly and Manufacturing

     The Company's assembly and manufacturing operations include PCB a
+ssembly
and the manufacture of subsystems and complete products. Its PCB assem
+bly
activities primarily consist of the placement and attachment of electr
+onic and
mechanical components on printed circuit boards using both SMT and tra
+ditional
pin-through-hole ("PTH") technology. The Company also assembles subsys
+tems and
systems incorporating PCBs and complex electromechanical components, a
+nd,
increasingly, manufactures and packages final products for shipment di
+rectly to
the customer or its distribution channels. The Company employs just-in
+-time,
ship-to-stock and ship-to-line programs, continuous flow manufacturing
+, demand
flow processes and statistical process control. The Company has expand
+ed the
number of production lines for finished product assembly, burn-in and 
+test to
meet growing demand and increased customer requirements. In addition, 
+the
Company has invested in FICO, a producer of injection molded plastic f
+or Asia
electronics companies with facilities in Shenzhen, China.

     As OEMs seek to provide greater functionality in smaller products
+, they
increasingly require advanced manufacturing technologies and processes
+. Most of
the Company's PCB assembly involves the use of SMT, which is the leadi
+ng
electronics assembly technique for more sophisticated products. SMT is
+ a
computer-automated process which permits attachment of components dire
+ctly on
both sides of a PCB. As a result, it allows higher integration of elec
+tronic
components, offering smaller size, lower cost and higher reliability t
+han
traditional manufacturing processes. By allowing increasingly complex 
+circuits
to be packaged with the components placed in closer proximity to each 
+other, SMT
greatly enhances circuit processing speed, and therefore board and sys
+tem
performance. The Company also provides traditional PTH electronics ass
+embly
using PCBs and leaded components for lower cost products.;
TEXT

local $/ = "";
open my ($str_fh), '<', \$string;
while ( <$str_fh> ) {
     print "New Paragraph: $_\n","*" x 40, "\n" ;   
}
close $str_fh;
[download]

The text is a part of annual report of this company and is available at https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/32272/0000950147-97-000151.txt.

I expect the code returns the paragraphs, however, I got the whole text back. I am quite confused with these errors.

Moreover, is it possible to still get paragraphs separately even if the current "blank" lines do not count as paragraph separator? Would anyone help me with this issue?

Thanks so much!!! Best Regards

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