#!/usr/local/bin/perl 
print "\n"                ;
print "Which file do you want to open? "  ; # we are asking which file to open
$file0 = <STDIN>          ;
$file = $file0 || "somelist";   #here's my effort to apply a default to the input if it is blank.
# THIS IS WHAT I WOULD LIKE TO DO -> if stdin is blank, i'd like to assign $file a variable.
chomp($file)              ;
#
print "\n"                ;
print "Which driver do you want to see? " ;  # we are asking to output info from a particular line
chomp ($name = <STDIN>)   ;  # the more idiomatic way

# Our requested file is accessed and displayed
$bibfile = "$file"        ;
open (IN, "<$bibfile") or die "Can't open $bibfile\n"; 
print "File Contents:\n"  ; 

while ($line = <IN>) {
 chomp($line)             ;
  ($Drivers,$Points_Rank,$TotalPts,$Behind,$Starts,$Poles,$Wins,$Top5,$Top10,$DNF,$Winnings) = split /\,/, $line;

   if ($Drivers=~ m/$name/i) {
   
   print "  $Drivers, $Points_Rank, $Top10, $Wins, $Starts, $DNF \n";
   }                                                  #
  }
close IN ;