use strict;

As the symbolic reference solution looked like a good solution when I started, given the time saved by not having to go through all those report scripts doing more then just prefix all variables with a dollar sign (and keep the variables readable), I learned over time that use strict; was not a bad idea.

So I started to use lexicals, and convert the data structure from $e010110 to $e[1]{110}, something some of you, if not most of you, would have thought of when faced with the problem in the beginning.

From the programmers eye, this is no problem, but more simple users have less problems recognizing $e010240 as being the surname of the person is much easier than recognizing $e[1]{240}, but - since most of my user base didn't change to formats anyway, I decided that to be a minor problem.

Now the initialization becomes something like:

    while (<>) {
        s/\s*$//;
        push @elp, $_;
        m/^99/ or next;

        # Convert the expanded LP-list to elements known in the format(s)
        foreach my $lp (@elp) {
            my ($cat, $type, $data) = split m/\|/, $lp, 3;
            $e[$cat]{$type} = $data;
            }

        # format this entity
        write;

        @e = ();
        }

... much cleaner and loosing the reset, also less error-prone. The format script would become something like:

format TOP =
Gemeente @<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<             Blad: @>>>>>>
	 $s_gem,							$%
Leerlingen                                              Datum: @<<<<<<<<< @<<<<
							       $D_sys,   $T_sys
===============================================================================
Achternaam                          Voornaam + initialen           Geb dat Gesl
    Adres                                    Postcode + Plaats
    SrtOnd School                                              Klas
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
.
format A01 =
@<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< @<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< @>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
$e[1]{241},                        $e[1]{214},         "$e[1]{311}  $e[1]{411}"
$line1
    @<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< @<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
    $e[1]{1100},			     $e[1]{1025}
~   @<<<<< @<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< @<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
    $e[1]{2021},$e[1]{2012},                                    $e[1]{2040}
.