Obligatory... please always put use strict;, use warnings; at the top of your scripts, and here's the idiomatic and recommended three-arg open with lexical file-handles: 

# read
open my $fh, '<', 'file.ext' or die $!;

# write
open my $wfh, '>', 'file.ext' or die $!;

[download]

Peppering the code with print statements to try to find out where the code is 'hanging' might help as well.

To get really nitty gritty once the above have been done, throw in a $DB::single = 1; just above where you think the code is hanging, then, on the command line:

# errata removed

$ perl -d script.pl

# 'continue' and stop at your breakpoint with 'c'

main::(script.pl:5):    $DB::single = 1;
  DB<1> c

# step into your variable with 's'

main::(script.pl:6):    my $x = 'y';
  DB<1> s

# display to STDOUT the value of the variable with "x $var"

main::(script.pl:8):    print $x;
  DB<1> x $x
0  'y'

[download]

If it hangs above a print or in debugging your breakpoint, you'll know exactly where to focus your attention.

In reply to Re: hanging script on read by stevieb
in thread hanging script on read by Anonymous Monk

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.