#!/usr/bin/perl
use Data::Dumper; #Use the Data::Dumper module
use Fcntl ':flock'; #Need the flock module also

&dbfile("open", "database"); #open database for reading & writing

#You can do any data struture you want with hash %db
$db{'hash'} = "hash_value";
push @{$db{'array'}}, "array_value";

&dbfile("close", "database"); #save and close database

#If this is a CGI script, uncomment the following line:
#print "Content-type: text/html\n\n";

&dbfile("open", "database");
print "Hey look at the value in \$db{'hash'}: $db{'hash'} \n";
print "And what's in \$db{'array'}[0]?: $db{'array'}[0]\n";
&dbfile("close", "database");

#Sub - opens/closes databases
sub dbfile {
if ($_[0] eq "open") { #open a database
open LOCKFILE, ">>lock.lck" or die "Error! Could not lock database!";
flock LOCKFILE, LOCK_EX or die "Error! Could not lock database!";
do "$_[1].dat";
}

if ($_[0] eq "close") { #save & close database
$Data::Dumper::Purity = 1;
$Data::Dumper::Indent = 0;
open FILE, ">$_[1].dat";
print FILE Data::Dumper->Dump([\%db], ['*db']);
close FILE;
close LOCKFILE;
%db = ();
}

#mmm... not opening database or closing.
#What are you trying to do?!
if ($_[0] ne "open" && $_[0] ne "close") { die "Error! Wrong parameter passed to db_file()!"; }
}