#/usr/bin/perl
# call this with perl prog.pl output_file input.db

my $output = shift; # remove output_file from @ARGV
open(OUTPUT, ">", $output) or die "Can't open $output: $!";

$/="//\n";

# now read from the remaing files in @ARGV (or STDIN)
# and let perl handle the opening ...
while (<>) {
  # do something
}

##</code><code>##

# to be inserted into the while loop above
my @lines = split /\n/, $_;