if ($name = "firstname"){

##</code><code>##

if ($name eq "firstname"){

##</code><code>##

use CGI;
use strict;
my %FORM;
map	{$FORM{$_} = 
        uri_unescape($cgi->param("$_"))} $cgi->param();
if ($FORM{firstname} eq '') {
      die print "must enter first name";
}