#strictures on #ReadingMultipleFiles.pl my @files; GetOptions( #many other integer and string options .... "file=s"=>\@files ..... ); foreach(@files){ print $_, "\n"; #only one file from a group } ### #a hash based way ### use Data::Dumper; my %hash; GetOptions(\%hash, 'files=s@'); print Dumper(\%hash); #only one file from a group