Remove Double Quotes from XML Output

[JakeBloomfield]

Dear All, Firstly, just to let you know I know nothing of PERL but I've inherited a small script which essentially converts an CSV file into a XML file. This XML file is then parsed by our VoIP phones as a phone directory. We have a new brand of phones which parses double quotes from the XML file where others do not. Below is the code that is generating the XML:

#!/usr/bin/perl -w

#fn        - First Name
#ct        - Extension


#use strict ;
#use warnings ;

#Name if the File that contains the User Direcotry Data
open (FILE, 'phonelist.csv') || die("Could not open the input file dir
+ectory.csv!\n");
#create if not yet created and/or overwrite existing directory-0000000
+00000.xml 
open (OUTPUTFILE, ">000000000000-directory.xml") || die("Could not ope
+n/create the output file directory-000000000000.xml!\n");

#below section contains the standard [general] header of the sip.conf

print OUTPUTFILE "<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\" standalone=
+\"yes\"?>\n";
print OUTPUTFILE  "<directory>\n";
print OUTPUTFILE "\t<item_list>\n";

while (<FILE>) {

chomp;
###################################################################
#we are splitting the comma seperated values into the single Items#
#add additional $columnX to accomodate further entries#
###################################################################

($column1,$column2,) = split(',');

print OUTPUTFILE "\t\t<item>\n";
print OUTPUTFILE "\t\t\t<fn>$column1</fn>\n";
print OUTPUTFILE "\t\t\t<ct>$column2</ct>\n";
print OUTPUTFILE "\t\t</item>\n";
}

print OUTPUTFILE "\t</item_list>\n";
print OUTPUTFILE "</directory>\n";

#close the csv example file
close (FILE);
#close the modified sip.conf file
close (OUTPUTFILE);
exit;

The source CSV file has quotes around the string in column 1 which I cannot change. I need a way for the above script to remove or ignore double quotes.. even snipping a character from the beginning and end would do. Any help appreciated. Cheers, Jake

[toolic]

The following removes all double quotes from the string stored in the $column1 variable using the substitution operator:

($column1,$column2,) = split(',');
$column1 =~ s/"//g;

If that does not work for you, then you should show several examples of strings you are working with.

[JakeBloomfield]

That worked perfectly - thank you very much.