db_connect();    #Connect to the database if needed
while ( display_menu(), ( my $option = <> ) ) {
 print '$option before processing input: ' . $option # returns 10
 $option = process_input($option);
 print '$option after processing input: ' . $option # returns 1
 if ( ( $option !~ m{/^\d+$/}xms ) or ( $option <= 0 ) or ( $option > 10 ) ) {
  display_menu_error("ERROR: illegal option: $option selected\n");
  next;
 }
 print_form()     if $option == 1;
 print_edit()     if $option == 2;
 db_remove()      if $option == 3;
 db_fetch()       if $option == 4;
 print_all()      if $option == 5;
 print_report()   if $option == 6;
 db_check()       if $option == 7;
 leave_comment()  if $option == 8;
 leave_donation() if $option == 9;

 if ( $option == 10 ) {
  $dbh->disconnect;
  print "Quitter...\n";
  exit 0;
 }
}
...
sub process_input {

# takes in information and loops through testing the input for valid alphanumeric characters.
 my @data = @_;
 for (@data) {
  chomp;
  s/^\s*//; # Have tried commenting out no change
  s/\s*$//; # Still somehow returns incorrect values
 }
 return @data;
}