sub search_database{ my $search_for = $_[1]; open(DB, $_[0]) or die "Error opening file: $!\n"; while(){ if($search_field eq "all"){ if(/$search_for/oi){push @results, $_}; } else { ($field_1,$field_2,$field_3)=split(/\|/); if(${$search_field} =~ /$search_for/oi){push @results, $_}; } } close (DB); }