[MacPerl] Spaces at the beginning of each element in an array

[Anette Seiler]

Dear all!

Please be patient with a beginner writing her first real Perl program.

I have a small problem where I can't find an answer in the books or 
in the archives. I would appreciate a few hints.

I have a text file named "fruit", containing several lines, like this:

apples
oranges
peaches
apples
bananas
peaches
bananas
oranges

In my script I read the textfile into an array with the following code:

        open(INPUT, "fruit") or die "Can't open file ($!)\n";
        @fruit = <INPUT>;
        close INPUT;

This code does what I want; it reads each line as an element of the 
array @fruit, except for one thing: it puts a space in front of each 
element from the second element onwards. If I print @fruit I get:

apples
  oranges
  peaches
  apples
  bananas
  peaches
  bananas
  oranges

When I sort the array, it ignores the leading space. The result is:

apples
  apples
  bananas
  bananas
  oranges
  oranges
  peaches
  peaches

When I compare the first and second line with each other, MacPerl 
sees them as equal.

When I print the array back into a text file, the leading whitespace 
is printed as well.

I don't want the space in front of the elements. How can I avoid this 
from happening in the first place?

If I can't avoid this, I want to get rid of it using a regular 
expression. Again I am stumped. My try was:

        foreach $line (@fruit) {
                if ($line =~ /^ /) {
                $line =~ s/^ //g ;
                }
        }

But it changes nothing.

Please help me writing a regular expression for searching and 
replacing in each element of an array.

I use BBedit 6 as text editor and MacPerl 5.2.0r4.

Kind regards

Anette