#!/usr/bin/env perl use strict; use warnings; use feature 'say'; use Data::Printer; my @Records; push( @Records, join ',', ( "AAA", 20130610, 730, 1015 ) ); push( @Records, join ',', ( "BBB", 20130610, 1015, 1200 ) ); push( @Records, join ',', ( "CCC", 20130610, 1230, 1400 ) ); push( @Records, join ',', ( "DDD", 20130610, 1415, 1530 ) ); my @RecordRowFields; my @RecCheck; for my $RecordRow (@Records) { @RecordRowFields = split /,/, $RecordRow; push( @RecCheck, [@RecordRowFields] ); } say "Single element: $RecCheck[1][2]"; p @RecCheck; __END__ [ [0] [ [0] "AAA", [1] 20130610, [2] 730, [3] 1015 ], [1] [ [0] "BBB", [1] 20130610, [2] 1015, [3] 1200 ], [2] [ [0] "CCC", [1] 20130610, [2] 1230, [3] 1400 ], [3] [ [0] "DDD", [1] 20130610, [2] 1415, [3] 1530 ] ] Single element: 1015