I support DB_File and SDBM_File a million percent! Might be tougher to use in some instances, but in all that I've ever done..I got it to work with using these two databases.

Why would you have to join and split variables? Just make a new hash key for each of the items and check for existance in the other script.

if ($database{"test1"})
{
   print qq(<input name="test" type="checkbox" id="test" value="test1"
+ checked>
      test1 
}
else
{  
 print qq(<input name="test" type="checkbox" id="test" value="test1">
      test1 
}
[download]

This will save you a lot of time from not having to join and split your variables/form fields. Just set them up as their own hash keys, you can set values to them this way as well. There is no need for the modules the other monks suggested. Not saying they won't work or they might not be better, but this is how I would go about doing this.