Not in this case: $guestbookreal just holds the path and name of the file in which the data of the ad are stored. So you have to read what is in that file, which can be done as follows:

my $content;
open FILE, '<', $guestbookreal; # Open a filehandle FILE to $guestbook
+real
while (<FILE>) {
   chomp; # delete any EOL character(s)
   $content .= $_; # Add the next line to the previous parts
}
[download]

Now $content has the data you need. Then you do:

$sth=$dbh->prepare($content);
$sth->execute();
[download]

Before anyone notices: I left out all error checking! A real script would be full of or die 'xxxx' statements.

I've tried to modify the script as I thought you have suggested:

http://www.usedflutes.com/countzero.txt

Does that look like what you had in mind?
If so, can you please tell me what then becomes of the  $guestbookreal = "/home/flute/usedflutes-www/new_listings.html"; part of the script?

Thanks again CountZero for helping me out with this.

-Bob

p.s. Yes, I have downloaded the nms script and do intend at some point in the not-too-distant-future to update my script. I very much appreciate the encouragement from yourself, Dave and others to do so, thanks.

You should put the while (<FILE>) { on a line by its own or else it will not be seen because of the comment prior in that line.

As to what becomes of the $guestbookreal part of the script I have no idea whatsoever. For that I would have to analyze the whole script and sadly I'm lacking in time to do so.

CountZero

"If you have four groups working on a compiler, you'll get a 4-pass compiler." - Conway's Law