Don't use variables, but an array or hash. Would do something like:

while( <> ){
  split;
  splice @_, 0, 2; #removes first two elements
  store_elements_function( @_ ); #sub to store the remainder
}
[download]

If you really want to name the items, use a hash. Define the names first:

my @std_keys = qw/proto .../;
my @ext_keys = qw/name9 name10 name11/;
..
#and in loop:
  my %hash;
  if( @_ < 9 ){
    @hash{@std_keys} = @_;
  } else {
    @hash{(@std_keys, @ext_keys)} = @_;
  }
  print "My proto is: ",$hash{'proto'},"\n";

...
[download]

Hope this helps. You can read up on it in perldata.

Jeroen
"We are not alone"(FZ)

---

---

• Are you posting in the right place? Check out Where do I post X? to know for sure.
• Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags. Currently these include the following:

  <code> <a> <b> <big> <blockquote> <br /> <dd> <dl> <dt> <em> <font> <h1> <h2> <h3> <h4> <h5> <h6> <hr /> <i> <li> <nbsp> <ol> <p> <small> <strike> <strong> <sub> <sup> <table> <td> <th> <tr> <tt> <u> <ul>

• Snippets of code should be wrapped in <code> tags not <pre> tags. In fact, <pre> tags should generally be avoided. If they must be used, extreme care should be taken to ensure that their contents do not have long lines (<70 chars), in order to prevent horizontal scrolling (and possible janitor intervention).
• Want more info? How to link or How to display code and escape characters are good places to start.