use strict;
use warnings;
use diagnostics;

my $line = 'a'x 8;

my $prnline = sprintf("len(line) > 6: [%-6s]\n",$line);

$line = 'b' x 6;
$prnline .= sprintf("len(line) = 6: [%-6s]\n",$line);

$line = 'c' x 3;
$prnline .=sprintf("len(line) n 6: [%-6s]\n",$line);
 
print $prnline;

__END__
len(line) > 6: [aaaaaaaa]
len(line) = 6: [bbbbbb]
len(line) n 6: [ccc   ]