Suerly, you mean "$!" , not "$?".

To be canonical, the open should be: 

 open (FILEDB, "<", $DATABASEFILE)  or  die "<b>Sorry, can't open data
+base file $DATABASEFILE:<br/>$!</b>";

[download]
$? deals with errors from child processes.
$! deals with OS errors, including file open errors.

     Theory is when you know something, but it doesn't work.
    Practice is when something works, but you don't know why it works.
    Programmers combine Theory and Practice: Nothing works and they don't know why.         -Anonymous

In reply to Re^2: help, please! by NetWallah
in thread Database file does not open by Karlmann

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