Ok, I have no access to any SQL server whatsoever, and I'm stuck using flat files. I have a database that is in the following format:
CAT #    DESCRIPTION    PRICE

It has 10,100 items. Currently, there are multiple listings with the same catalog number but different descriptions and prices. I want to be able to give the program two arguements: a first number and a last number and have it display everything in between. Right now I'm doing that by adding an extra field that is basically a line number in front of the catalog number and looping through until it finds the first number, then it prints everything until it reaches the last number. However, I'd like to use the catalog numbers as the numbers I use for the first and last arguements.

To see an example of what I'm doing, click here. Here's my code:

!/usr/bin/perl5

&parse_form;               # Parse the form
$first = $FORM{'first'};          # First number in range
$last = $FORM{'last'};           # Last number in range
$condition = $FORM{'condition'};     # Condition of each item
$maxprice = $FORM{'maxprice'};     # Maximum price customer wants to p
+ay
$fields = 4;                # Number of fields in each record
$filename = "pricelist.txt";        # The database text file
$results = 10000;             # Maximum number of results to display
&open_file("FILE1","",$filename);     # Open the database file
&mime;
&print_top;
$counter = 0;

if ($first =~ /[^0-9]/) {
 &error;
}
if ($last =~ /[^0-9]/) {
 &error;
}

 while (($line = &read_file("FILE1")) && ($counter < $results)) {
   # split the fields at the | character  
   @tabledata = split(/\s*\|\s*/,$line ,$fields);
    &check_record;
    if ($found == 1) {
   $counter++;
   &print_record;
   }
 }


 close(FILE1);

 if ($counter == 0) {
    print "<TR><TD colspan=4><BR><B> Sorry, No Matches were found.</B>
+</TD></TR>\n";
 }
 
&footer; 


######################################################################
+###
#                                    #
#                    Subroutines          #
#                                    #
######################################################################
+###

# Check the record
sub check_record {
   $item_number = $tabledata[0];
   $scottnum = $tabledata[1];
   $description = $tabledata[2];
   $descriptionurl = $tabledata[2];
   $price = $tabledata[3];
   $keywords = $tabledata[4];
 $descriptionurl =~ s/\s/\+/g;
 $sfound = 0;
 $found = 0;
 $notfound = 1; 
 if (($item_number >=$first) && ($item_number <= $last)) { 
  if ($description =~ /$condition/i) {
   $sfound = 1;
  }
  elsif ($condition =~ /all/i) {
   $sfound = 1;
  }
 } 
 else {
  $notfound = 0;
 }
 if ($sfound == 1 && $notfound == 1) {
  $found = 1;
 }
}


# Parse the Form

 sub parse_form {

    read(STDIN, $buffer, $ENV{'CONTENT_LENGTH'});
    if (length($buffer) < 5) {
    $buffer = $ENV{QUERY_STRING};
  }
 
   @pairs = split(/&/, $buffer);
    foreach $pair (@pairs) {
    ($name, $value) = split(/=/, $pair);

    $value =~ tr/+/ /;
    $value =~ s/%([a-fA-F0-9][a-fA-F0-9])/pack("C", hex($1))/eg;
 
    $FORM{$name} = $value;
    }
 }

# Open the File

 sub open_file {
 
   local ($filevar, $filemode, $filename) = @_;
   
   open ($filevar,$filemode . $filename) ||
   die ("Can't open $filename");
 }
 
# Read and/or Write to the File

 sub read_file {

   local ($filevar) = @_;
 
   <$filevar>;  
 }
[download]

Any suggestions on how I could make it so I could pass it the two Catalog numbers instead of the control numbers?

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