#! perl
use strict;
use warnings;
use autodie;

use constant
{
    IN_FILE   => 'text.txt',
    SIZE      => ???,
    MIN_MATCH => ???,
};

my $size      = SIZE;
my $min_match = MIN_MATCH;
my @array;

open(my $in, '<', IN_FILE);

if (defined(my $line = <$in>))
{
    if ($line =~ /^(\d+)\s+(\d+)/)
    {
        $size      = $1;
        $min_match = $2;
    }
    else
    {
        push @array, $line;
    }

    push @array, $_ while <$in>;
}

close $in;

##</code><code>##

adam***betty
^^charlie^^^^^adam^^betty^^^^^
#####adam######charlie##