The problem is in how you're assigning data to your variables in your while loop... 
while (<DATAFILE>)
{
    $TRACK = $_;
    chomp ($TRACK);
    $pager = $_;
    chomp ($pager);
    $service = $_;
    chomp ($service);
}

[download]
Here you're assigning $_ to three different variables before you even read the next value from your file. This means that in each interation of your while loop (i.e. for each value in the file), you assign that line to each variable. Ultimately, the last line of the file gets assigned to all 3 variables, and you're left with the output you received.

What you actually wanted to do was skip the while loop and either do... 

open (DATAFILE, $datafile) or die "Input data not found.\n";
chomp ($TRACK   = <DATAFILE>);
chomp ($pager   = <DATAFILE>);
chomp ($service = <DATAFILE>);

[download]
...or use DamnDirtyApe's version above, which I prefer. Just keep in mind that each time <DATAFILE> is accessed as a scalar, another line is read from the file, whereas each time $_ is accessed, you're simply retrieving the value of that variable (not the next value in the file).

-Bird

In reply to Re: Is this a correct way of obtaining input from a file? by Bird
in thread Is this a correct way of obtaining input from a file? by cecil36

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