while ( ) { chomp; my( $label, $index, $value ) = ( split /\s+/ )[3, 5, -1]; $a_vals[ $index ] = $value; $b_vals[ $index ] = $value; } #### if ($label eq "A"){ $fields[-2] = $a_vals[ $index ] } if ($label eq "B"){ $fields[-2] = $b_vals[ $index ] #### if ($label eq "A") { $fields[-2] = $a_vals[ $index ] } elsif ($label eq "B") { $fields[-2] = $b_vals[ $index ] } else { print "OOPS! bad label\n"; # complain if something is fishy }