sub getforminput {
  my %in;
  my $buffer; # Because this is now a subroutine that can get
              # called from various places, we must be careful
              # not to tromp on the script's own variables.
  if ($ENV{'REQUEST_METHOD'} eq "GET") {$buffer = $ENV{'QUERY_STRING'};}
  elsif ($ENV{'REQUENT_METHOD'} eq "POST") {
    read(STDIN,$buffer,$ENV{'CONTENT_LENGTH'});
  } else {
    return undef; # If $ENV{REQUEST_METHOD} is not set, maybe there's no input.
                  # In that case the script will probably print a blank form.
  }
  # I'm not sure what your assigning from $buffer to $bufferb was
  # intended to accomplish, but I think it just creates an extra
  # variable.  Skip it, and go straight to the split:
  my @forminputs = split(/&/, $buffer);
  foreach $forminput (@forminputs)
    {
      my ($name, $value) = split(/=/, $forminput);
      $value =~ tr/+/ /;
      $value =~ s/%([a-fA-f0-9][a-fA-F0-9])/pack("C", hex($1))/eg;
      # Some of that stuff cgi could do for you, possibly better, but
      # for now we'll move on...

      $in{$name} = $value;
      # Good.  You did right to put the input in a hash.  Not
      # only is it convenient to access that way, but it is
      # also all together in one nice container that can be
      # easily passed around, and there is no risk of tromping
      # on other variables (as there would be with $$name=$value
      # and similar hacks).
    }
  return \%in;
}