Once again, I thank everyone for your comments and suggestions... some of which use code that I have not yet studied, but will eventually get there. Keep in mind that this is a hobby with me and I am only half way thru my perl for dummies book :-) But again, I do appreciate the responses.
The script was not meant to be practical, but rather an exercise in learning basic perl.
My own personal opinion is that you should probably not use the "Perl for dummies" book, it is really not very good. Actually, as far as CS is concerned, most of the "XXX for dummies" books are bad and seem to be aimed as making you a dummy. Use the O'Reilly books instead if you can, their are much much better. "Learning Perl", by O'Reilly, is probably my best advice for a starter.