Try this: #!/usr/bin/perl -w use strict; my( $name, $yn, @usrlst ); #read the file open( FILE, "<users.txt" ) || die; @usrlst = <FILE>; close( FILE ); print "Enter your name--> "; chomp( $name = <STDIN> ); foreach( @usrlst ) { if( /$name/igmo ) { print "That name has already been added"; last; } else { print "Name not found. Would you like to add it? (y/n)--> "; chomp( $yn = <STDIN> ); if($yn =~ /y/i ) { open( OUTPUT, ">>users.txt" ); print OUTPUT $name, "\n"; close OUTPUT; } else { print "FINE, be that way!\n"; } } } print "And the boredom continues.\n"; Don't know if it'll compile...just jotted it down here in the text editor. G'luck.