Simple Report Formats

#!/usr/local/bin/perl
#
# Open a file create/write
# Print out a simple formatted report
#

$col_1="column one text 789_12345" ;
$col_2="column two text 789_12345" ;
$col_3=123456789.12345 ;

$note_1 = "Note 1: The code segment demonstrates the method of generating a 
formatted report using several variables containing text and numbers. " ;

$note_2 = "Note 2: The code segment demonstrates the method of generating 
a formatted report using several variables containing text and numbers. " ;

$note_3 = "Note 3: The code segment demonstrates \n the method of generating 
a \n formatted report using several \n variables containing text \n and numbers. " ;

open ( REPORT_FILE, ">report.txt" ) || die " report.txt $! \n " ;

# a dot marks the end of the format
format REPORT_FILE =
123456789_123456789_123456789_123456789_123456789_123456789_123456789_123456
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                               Top of Report                              |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Column One              |Column Two              |Column Three            |
+------------------------+------------------------+------------------------+
|                        |                        |                        |
| @<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< | @<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< | @##################.## |
$col_1, $col_2, $col_3
| @<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< | @<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< | @##################.## |
$col_1, $col_2, $col_3
| @<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< | @<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< | @##################.## |
$col_1, $col_2, $col_3
|                        |                        |                        |
+------------------------+------------------------+------------------------+
           ^|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
           $note_1
 ~         ^|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
           $note_1
 ~         ^|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
           $note_1
 ~         ^|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
           $note_1
 ~         ^|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
           $note_1

 ~~        ^<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
           $note_2

           @*
           $note_3

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
.
# make sure the dot is in column one

write REPORT_FILE ;

print "\n\nALL DONE\n\n" ;
#
# DONE
#