I think you have misunderstood how CGI works. When you write print FILE $q->param("file$i"); you are asking for the filename, not the contents of the file. It is possible to use the filename as a filehandle, but that would mean you'd do something like:

my $filename = $q->param("file$i");
while(<$filename>)
{
    print FILE $_;
}
[download]

Have a look at CGI's upload function, as it's a better choice than param for getting the filehandle/filename.

You should also note that the filename that you get depends wholly on the user's filename, so if your code uses that filename exactly then other users can overwrite each others files.

I think you'll find code that answers your problem here and in many other places in this monastery if you search.

Hope this helps.

jarich