Append line numbers to the fields so I can bypass hash and array manipulation entirely. i.e item_no_1=1&item_no_2=2&item_no_3=3&qty_1=11&qty_2=12&qty_3=13)

use strict;
use warnings;

use CGI;
my $q = CGI::new;
# or however you get your $q ...

# input names look like "id1~id2~id3"
# or pick a delimiter you like instead of ~
for my $param ($q->param) {
    # print "$param<br/>\n";
    next unless $param =~ /.*(?:~.+){2}/;
    my ($id1,$id2,$id3) = split(/~/,$param);
    # print "$id1 - $id2 - $id3<br/>\n";
    # ...
}
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I'm not familiar with how CGI returns values, and I dont understand how this script works exactly.

for my $param ($q->param)
This gets an array of all the parameter names

next unless $param =~ /.*(?:~.+){2}/;
This checks for zero or more of any character followed by 2 occurances of either ?:~.+

my ($id1,$id2,$id3) = split/~/,$param);
$param is a string of values and you spilt on the ~

I guess my confusion is on the distinction between parameter name and values here. Could you give an example URL that you would pass to have this script work?

the_Don
...making offers others can't rufuse.

This checks for zero or more of any character followed by 2 occurances of either ?:~.+

The (?: ... ) construction is 'pure grouping.' So (?:~.+){2} matches, but does not assign to a variable, a tilde ~ followed by one or more chars twice.... basically checking for 2 tildes. Somebody else could write this more elegantly, I'm sure.

Here's an example querystring. I'll use the names that shotgunefx suggested.

?item~1~name=boobtube&item~1~qty=1&item~1~code=mysqlpk&item~2~name=loo
+sifer&item~2~qty=1&item~2~code=666&ship~firstname=Han ...
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Since now we're dealing with fields with 2 and 3 ids, we need to adjust the code some.

# Always
use warnings;
use strict;

use CGI;
my $q = CGI::new; 

my %lineitem;
my %ship;

# process params
#
for my $param ( $q->param ) {
    my @id = split(/~/,$param);

    # a SWITCH would work nicely, but I'll try
    # not to confuse the example

    if ( $id[0] eq 'item' ) {
        $lineitem{$id[1]}{$id[2]} = $q->param($param);
    }
    if ( $id[0] eq 'ship' ) {
        $ship{$id[1]} = $q->param($param);
    }
}

# process lineitems
#
print "Please confirm order of<br/> ";
for my $item ( keys %lineitem ) {
    print $lineitem{$item}{qty},
          $lineitem{$item}{name};
    print "<br/>";
}

print "<br/>being shipped to $ship{firstname}<br/>";
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Is this a better example?

(Edit: minor spelling and grammer fixes)
(Edit: replaced my ($id1,$id2,$id3) = with my @id =)

# using Vars...
use CGI;
$q = new CGI;
$params = $q->Vars;

foreach $key (keys $params) {
    # If the param is just a number then it is
    # assumed to be an item number. You may want to
    # change that assumption.
    if ($key =~ /^\d+$/) {
        # Do something with $params->{$key}
    }
}
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# using param...
use CGI;
$q = new CGI;

# If the param is just a number then it is
# assumed to be an item number. You may want to
# change that assumption
for (grep(/^\d+$/, $q->param)) {
    # Do something with $q->param($_)
}
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item-1-name
item-1-qty
item-1-code

ship-firstname
ship-lastname

etc...
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Another possibility is to make the catalog number the field name, and the quantity its value.

After Compline,
Zaxo

make the catalog number the field name, and the quantity its value

How would I get the parameter name?

And my examples are not sufficient because there will be more than just two fields defining a line. Right now there are five, but that may increase.

the_Don
...making offers others can't rufuse.

How would I get the parameter name?

if you're using CGI.pm, you can get the parameter list by calling the param method without arguments:

my $q = new CGI;
my @params = $q->param();
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FWIW, I'd go with the  num_of_lines=5&item_num_1=1234&item_num_2=4562... approach.

-- Dan