This is in reply to your newest post, I can't seem to reply to it as it's below my current viewable thread or something.

I tried setting the cookie as another scalar like you requested, but it hasn't done anything. Maybe I am confused as to what I'm supposed to be doing with it. I set the cookie as another scalar, but then am I supposed to compare it within the password verification section (if ( $adminpass eq $adminpassword ) {)?

I'm sorry, I'm just really clueless and I've never understood cookies or how they work or anything..and I HAVE read tutorials and the CGI docs on them. This is just one concept I don't think I'll ever be able to understand :(

My current code:

my $adminpassword = "test";
my %cookie;
my $pass = cookie('cookie');

require SDBM_File;


my %mail;

my $person = url_param('lookup');


if ( !exists $cookie{'pass'} ) {
    if ( param() ) {
        my $adminpass = param('admin');

        if ( $adminpass eq $adminpassword ) {
            my $cookiename = cookie(
                -name    => 'cookie',
                -value   => 'loggedin',
                -path    => '/',
                -expires => '+3y'
            );
        
        print header, start_html();

        # print rest of page here
        print "you are logged in";

##### database value lookup
if ($person) {
if (exists $mail{$person}) {
my $lookup_data = $mail{$person};
print "$lookup_data";
} else {
print "<h3><font color=red>Error:</font></h3> This user doesn't exist"
+;
}
}
else{

foreach (keys %snailmail) {
print <<"END";
<a href="www.myscript.com/login.pl?lookup=$_" target="_new">$_</a><br>
END
}


}
        }

        else {
            print header, start_html();

            print "Incorrect password, please click back and try again
+";
            exit;
        }
    }
    else {
        print header, start_html();

        print start_form(),
          table(
            Tr(
                td("Admin Password: "),
                td(
                    textfield(
                        -name => 'admin',
                        -size => 10
                    )
                )
            ),
            Tr( td(), td(submit) ),
          ),
          end_form(), hr();
    }
}
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