if(! -e "/tmp/test.index") {
  system("/usr/bin/touch /tmp/test.index"); }
#This first test is necessary because if I add the creation permission to the open command, it clobbers the file, preventing me from reading from it
open(FILE, "+</tmp/test.index") || die $!;
$index = <FILE>;
#printing out the value of $index leads me to believe that this part works

if( ! $index =~ /[0-9]+/ ) {
  $index = 1; }
#This should handle any sort of corruption to the file
$i++;
truncate(FILE, 0);
#I do this to be safe.  But when I do, it prepends two null characters.  
print FILE $index;
#This command has no apparent effect.  
close(FILE);
exit 0;