#!/usr/bin/perl -w

use strict;
use Data::Dumper;
use diagnostics -verbose;


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

my $searchresult = &search(part => "$part", rev => "$rev");


if (defined $searchresult) {
    print "Located Part Number $part: @$searchresult[1 .. 7]\n";
    
}else {
    print "Your Part Number ($part) Rev ($rev) could not be found...\n
+";
}


# This routine will accept a part number as an anonymous
# hash, and search thru a text file returning the entire
# record (pipe delineated) of the 1st occurence

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

    local *FH;
    open (FH, './fai.txt') || die "Cannot open file: ($!)";
    my @records = <FH>;
    
    chomp (@records);
           foreach my $line (@records){
        
        my @fields = split(/\|/, $line);
        if ($args{part} eq $fields[0] && $args{rev} eq $fields[1]){
            $retval = \@fields;
            #last;
}
            close FH;
                    return $retval;
        
    }
    
}
[download]

#!/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 $searchresult
   ? "Located Part Number: @{[join ':', @$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  "Cannot open file $args{fil
+ename}: $!";
    while (!$found && 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]

"Yet what are all such gaieties to me

Whose thoughts are full of indices and surds?"

quotes the Lama

I'm almost positive that I didn't write it exactly like that because I almost never write not as an exclamation mark. Anyhow, you could omit that $found value because your last skips right out of the while. The other use you use for $found is irritating. I much prefer setting the return value explicitly and letting that take the place of $found. I copied my code, fixed it up and commented the changes.

 sub search {
     my %args = @_;
     # Turned into a scalar. An array reference will be
     # stored here if the value being searched for was
     # found.
     my $return_record;
 
     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};
         
         # Change this from assigning to @return_record
         # so now it's an array reference. Also add a last;
         # call;
         $return_record = \ @record;
         last;
     }
     close PARTS_DB or die "Can't close PARTS_DB $args{filename}: $!";

     # This returns whatever was found which may be nothing
     return $return_record;
 }
[download]

---

Seeking Green geeks in Minnesota

My mistake I credited the wrong code to you. I apologize. Here is the code as you originally posted for me.

# #!/usr/bin/perl -w
# 
# use strict;
# use Data::Dumper;
# use diagnostics -verbose;
# 
# use constant PART => 1;
# use constant REV  => 2; 
# 
# print "Enter the Part Number you wish to search for: ";
# my $part = <STDIN>;
# chomp $part;
#       
# print "Enter the Revison for ($part): ";
# my $rev = <STDIN>;
# chomp $rev;
# 
# my $searchresult = search( part     => $part,
#                            rev      => $rev,
#                            filename => './file.db' );
# 
# print ref $searchresult
#     ? "Located Part Number $part: @{$searchresult}[1 .. 7]\n"
#     : "Your Part Number ($part) Rev ($rev) could not be found...\n";
# 
# sub search {
#     my %args = @_;
#     my @return_record;
# 
#     local *PARTS_DB;
#     open PARTS_DB, $args{filename} or die "Cannot open file $args{fi
+lename}: $!";
#     while (my $record = <PARTS_DB>) {
#         chomp $record;
#         my @record = split /\|/, $record;
#         next unless $record[PART] eq $args{part}
#                 and $record[REV] eq $args{rev};
#         
#         @return_record = @record;
#     }
#     close PARTS_DB or die "Can't close PARTS_DB $args{filename}: $!"
+;
#     return \ @return_record;
# }
[download]

This is how it stands at this time with the changes. As you can see I do not use found at all in the new version.
Read more... (2 kB)