I would use Term::Interact like so

#!/usr/bin/perl --

use strict;
use warnings;

use Data::Dumper;
use Term::Interact;

print Dumper( prompt_customer() );

sub prompt_customer {
    my %customer;
    my $ti = Term::Interact->new;

    $customer{firstname} = $ti->get(
        msg    => "\nComputer Information\n-----------------------\n",
        prompt => "Customer First Name: ",
        check  => [ qr/^\w+$/, ],
    );
    $customer{lastname} = $ti->get(
        msg    => "",
        prompt => "Customer Last Name: ",
        check  => [ qr/^\w+$/, ],
    );
    $customer{phone} = $ti->get(
        msg    => "",
        prompt => "Customer Phone #: ",
        check  => [ qr/^[\d\s\-\,]+$/, ],
    );
    $customer{email} = $ti->get(
        msg    => "",
        prompt => "Customer Email: ",
        check  => [ qr/^\S+$/, ],
    );

    $customer{compman} = $ti->get(
        msg    => "\nComputer Information\n-----------------------\n",
        prompt => "Computer Manufacturer: ",
    );
    $customer{compmodel} = $ti->get(
        msg    => "",
        prompt => "Computer Model: ",
    );
    $customer{compModelNum} = $ti->get(
        msg    => "",
        prompt => "Computer Model #: ",
    );
    $customer{errormsg} = $ti->get(
        msg    => "",
        prompt => "Error Message (if any): ",
    );
    $customer{os} = $ti->get(
        msg    => "",
        prompt => "Operating System: ",
    );
    $customer{probdesc} = $ti->get(
        msg    => "",
        prompt => "Problem Description: ",
    );

    $customer{loginpw} = $ti->get(
        ReadMode => 2,
        msg      => "",
        prompt   => "Administrator/Root Login Password: ",
    );
    $customer{service} = $ti->get(
        msg    => "",
        prompt => "Computer Service Needed: ",
    );
    $customer{barcode} = $ti->get(
        msg    => "",
        prompt => "Barcode Number: ",
    );

    $customer{date} = scalar localtime;
    print "\n";

    return \%customer;

}

__END__
### for testing, COPY/PASTE when prompted
first
last
444 444 444
asdf@email.com
manu
mode
33
err
os
prob
rootpass
compserv
barcode


## sample session


Computer Information
-----------------------
   Customer First Name: first
   Customer Last Name: last
   Customer Phone #: 444 444 444
   Customer Email: asdf@email.com


Computer Information
-----------------------
   Computer Manufacturer: manu
   Computer Model: mode
   Computer Model #: 33
   Error Message (if any): err
   Operating System: os
   Problem Description: prob
   Administrator/Root Login Password:
   Computer Service Needed: compserv
   Barcode Number: barcode

$VAR1 = {
          'probdesc' => 'prob',
          'firstname' => 'first',
          'date' => 'Tue Sep 22 12:44:24 2009',
          'barcode' => 'barcode',
          'lastname' => 'last',
          'service' => 'compserv',
          'phone' => '444 444 444',
          'os' => 'os',
          'email' => 'asdf@email.com',
          'loginpw' => 'rootpass',
          'errormsg' => 'err',
          'compModelNum' => '33',
          'compman' => 'manu',
          'compmodel' => 'mode'
        };
[download]

---

---

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.