Let me rewrite and correct that a little:

sub duplicate_record {
   my ($name, $surename) = @_;
   my $is_duplicate = 0;
   my $html_title = 'Duplicate records have been found!';

   open (DBFILE, "dbfile.pdb") or die("Cannot open file for matching: 
+$!");
   local $_;
   while (<DBFILE>) {
      my @pattern_check = split(/,/, $_); #spit line where you see com
+ma (,) ($record)
      if ($name eq $pattern_check[0] and $surename eq $pattern_check[1
+]) { #check if duplicate is available
         print $cgi->start_html($html_title).
               $cgi->h1('Duplicate records:').
               $cgi->p("$name $surename $phone already exists.\nGo bac
+k and fill something else than that!").
               $cgi->end_html;
         $is_duplicate = 1;
         last;
      }
   }
   close (DBFILE);

   save_db() unless $is_duplicate;
}
[download]

This should work better, let me make some remarks

• Don't use global variables, pass the relevant variables ($name and $surename) to your subroutine.
• use strict;
• put the important part first: open or die and not die unless open.
• use last, next and redo for loop control
• Readup how <FILE> behaves in scalar and list context.
• Think about better variable names: $found -> $is_duplicate. What does $name stand for? $firstname?

Update:

• As gjb points out, there might be a problem with not printing a HTTP header, too. I assumed in my snippet that this header is printed somewhere else before calling the sub.

-- Hofmator

---

---

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! —

• How do I compose an effective node title?
• How do I post a question effectively?
• Markup in the Monastery

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:
	&		&
	<		&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.