# loop through the file zapping the bad characters found
    while(<FILE>)
    {
        $lineBuff = $_;

        # remove upper ascii
        $lineBuff =~ s/([\x7F-\xFF]+)/$delimiter/gm;

        # remove lower ascii
        $lineBuff =~ s/([\x00-\x1F]+)/$delimiter/gm;
        $lineBuff =~ s/\%//gm;

        # send the clean data to the output file
        print OUT "$lineBuff\n";

    }