my @fds; for (1..200){ open my $fds[$_], '<', "datafile$_" or die $!; } for my $ln (1..948){ print "$ln has "; for my $fdn (1..200){ my $line = <$fds[$fdn]>; my $field3 = get_third_field_using_whatever_csv_method($line); print $field3; print ' ' unless $fdn == 200; } print "\n"; }