It depends what you want to go into $database.

$database = "@names"; # space separated list of names
$database = @names;   # number of elements in @names
$database = \@names;  # reference to @names
$database = [@names]; # reference to a copy of @names

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In reply to Re: using arrays insteaed of files by davorg
in thread using arrays insteaed of files by Anonymous Monk

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