First, use CGI.pm to parse the data from the get and post.

Second, understand that you are not dealing with a database, but a flat file. Big difference. If you are stuck with a flat file, sobeit but it is not a database.

Try opening the file for read, put it into an array, loop through this array, push each record onto a new array unless a match is found and then print the contents of the second array into the file:

#!/usr/bin/perl -Tw

use CGI qw(:standard);
use strict;


# delete a specific line
if (param('action') eq 'delete'
{
  open(FILE,"$file");
  while(<FILE>)
  {
    chomp;
    ($company_name,$street,$city_st_zip,$phone,$fax,$website,$email,$c
+ategory,$storefront,$logo,$alpha,$first_name)=split(/\|/);
    if (param($company_name) eq $company_name || ....) # match
    {
        push(@file,$_);
    }
  }
  close(FILE);
  open(FILE,>$file);
  {
    foreach (@file)
    {
        print FILE $_ . "\n";
    }
  }
}
[download]

I am not totally sure this will solve your problem but it will make your code easier to read and therefore easier to debug.

---

I admit it, I am Paco.