use Xbase; my $table = new XBase "live.dbf" or die Xbase->errstr; for (0 .. $table->last_record) { my ($deleted,$lastname) = $table->get_record($_,"LASTNAME"); die $table->errstr unless defined $deleted; next if $deleted; $table->update_record_hash($_,"TEST"=>"It works") if $LASTNAME == "Smith"; }