my $searchresult = search( part => $part, rev => $rev, filename => './file.db', ); print $searchresult ? "Located Part Number: @{[join ':', @$searchresult ]}\n" : "Your Part Number ($part) Rev ($rev) could not be found....\n" ; sub search { my %args = @_; my $found = 0; my @record; open PARTS_DB, $args{filename} or die "$args{filename}: $!"; while (!$found and my $record = ) { chomp $record; @record = split /\|/, $record; if ($record[PART] eq $args{part} && $record[REV] eq $args{rev}){ $found = 1; last; } } close PARTS_DB; return $found ? \@record : undef; }