# Remove comment line(s) and white space
    $para =~ s/^\s*#.*//mg;
    $para =~ s/\s//g; # add
    my $seq_length = length($para); # add
    print "[$para]\n"; # optional
    .
    .
    printf $out_file "Number of proteins = %d\n",$num ;
    printf $out_file "String length = %d\n\n",$seq_length; # add