sub search { my %args = @_; # Turned into a scalar. An array reference will be # stored here if the value being searched for was # found. my $return_record; local *PARTS_DB; open PARTS_DB, $args{filename} or die "Cannot open file $args{filename}: $!"; while (my $record = ) { chomp $record; my @record = split /\|/, $record; next unless $record[PART] eq $args{part} and $record[REV] eq $args{rev}; # Change this from assigning to @return_record # so now it's an array reference. Also add a last; # call; $return_record = \ @record; last; } close PARTS_DB or die "Can't close PARTS_DB $args{filename}: $!"; # This returns whatever was found which may be nothing return $return_record; }