Jenda, Thanks for questioning my method of approach:
> I must process the output of an SQL query using Perl. > > I know the column position of the data in the output file, which means > that I am able to calculate the width of each field. > > All of the data in the file is left-aligned to the field, except for > one column. > ... "Why do you write the SQL query results into a text file only to have to parse them out later? Run the SQL from the Perl script via DBI and you will not need any substr(). Jenda" ===== My Comment: this is an obvious approach, with numerous advantages. However, it requires installation of the BD:Oracle module, which can be very tricky. Basically, I started to install and configure all of this (Perl, DBI,DB:Oracle) on HP-UX 11.31 but after 4 days I ran out of time. That is why I resorted to SQL*Plus queries :-( If I can find the time next week, I will finish the installation next week, though success is not guaranteed { :-( x 2 } Regards, BiLL -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: beginners-unsubscr...@perl.org For additional commands, e-mail: beginners-h...@perl.org http://learn.perl.org/