When you do this..

open(INF,$datafile);
@mydata = <INF>;
close(INF);
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It puts each line into the array as a seperate entry. So if there's no new lines in the file, all user records are in one entry in the array. You're never going to look at more than the first entry.

Secondly, you're splitting some input from STDIN on '&' and then again on '='. What is this data and how is it supposed to be formed? You never mentioned it.

Rich