#!/usr/bin/perl -w use strict;

use Data::Dumper;
use diagnostics -verbose;

use constant PART => 0;
use constant REV  => 1;

print "Enter the Part Number you wish to search for: ";
my $part = <STDIN>;
chomp $part;

print "Enter the Revision for ($part): ";
my $rev = <STDIN>;
chomp $rev;

my $searchresult = search( part     => $part,
               rev      => $rev,
               filename => './file.db',
               );

print ref  $searchresult
  ? "Located Part Number: @{[join ':', @$searchresult ]}\n"
  : "Your Part Number ($part) Rev ($rev) could not be found....\n";

sub search  {
    my %args = @_;
    my $retval;


    local *PARTS_DB;
    open PARTS_DB, $args{filename} or die  "Cannot open file $args{fil
+ename}: $!";
    while (my $record = <PARTS_DB>)  {
        chomp $record;
        my @record = split /\|/, $record;
        next unless $record[PART] eq $args{part}
        and $record[REV] eq $args{rev};

        close PARTS_DB or die  "Can't close PARTS_DB $args{filename}: 
+$!";
        return \ @record;
    }
}
[download]

my $searchresult = search(
   part     => $part,
   rev      => $rev,
   filename => './file.db',
);

print $searchresult
   ? "Located Part Number: @{[join ':', @$searchresult ]}\n"
   : "Your Part Number ($part) Rev ($rev) could not be found....\n"
;

sub search {
   my %args = @_;
   my $found = 0;
   my @record;

   open PARTS_DB, $args{filename} or die "$args{filename}: $!";
   while (!$found and my $record = <PARTS_DB>)  {
      chomp $record;
      @record = split /\|/, $record;
      if ($record[PART] eq $args{part} && $record[REV] eq $args{rev}){
         $found = 1;
         last;
      }
   }

   close PARTS_DB;
   return $found ? \@record : undef;
}
[download]

UPDATE:
On another note, if the array is not going to be considerably large, then consider returning the array a list instead of a reference to the array:

sub search {
   ... yadda yadda yadda ...
   return @record;
}

my @searchresult = search(... yadda yadda ...);

print @searchresult ? "got it: @searchresult\n" : "nadda\n";
[download]

while (my $record = <DATA>)  {
[download]

or you could remove the last statement (not the last statement ;)). The other errors are cut and paste errors on your behalf due to code wrapping on this site. Try it now. ;)

jeffa

L-LL-L--L-LL-L--L-LL-L--
-R--R-RR-R--R-RR-R--R-RR
B--B--B--B--B--B--B--B--
H---H---H---H---H---H---
(the triplet paradiddle with high-hat)