in reply to reading input into a number of arrays
Perl doesn't support the comma separated indices for multidimensional arrays. Instead of
$a[$i, 1]
use
$a[$i][1]
Update: Use warnings, Perl will tell you:
Multidimensional syntax $a[$i,1] not supported at ...
map{substr$_->[0],$_->[1]||0,1}[\*||{},3],[[]],[ref qr-1,-,-1],[{}],[sub{}^*ARGV,3]
In Section
Seekers of Perl Wisdom