use strict;
use warnings;

my $searchfor = "somebody";
my ($login, $pass, $email, $some, $other, $stuff);
open PASSWD, "<passwd.ini";
while (<PASSWD>) {
   if ((split/\|/)[0] eq $searchfor) {
      chomp;
      ($login, $pass, $email, $some, $other, $stuff) = split /\|/;
      last;
   }
   print "nomatch: ", (split/\|/)[0], "\n";
}

if ($login) {
   # match was found. 'print' verifies we got the right stuff.
   print "match found: $login, $pass, $email, $some, $other, $stuff\n";
   # do whatever else . . .
}

##</code><code>##

nobody|nopass|nobody@home.com|some1|other1|stuff1
anybody|anypass|anybody@home.net|some2|other2|stuff2
somebody|somepass|somebody@home.org|some3|other3|stuff3
everybody|everypass|everybody@home.gov|some4|other4|stuff4

##</code><code>##

nomatch: nobody
nomatch: anybody
match found: somebody, somepass, somebody@home.org, some3, other3, stuff3