chomp($start_day = <>);  #month/day 
              open($fh,"< C:/Work/PAYROll.TXT");
              while($payperiod = <$fh>)
              {
              if($payperiod =~ /$start_day/) {
              $num = $.; }
              if($. => $num) {  #typo, meant >=
              print $.," ", $payperiod; }
              }