Any time you have a syntax error that you can't figure out, check the previous line for a missing semicolon. In your case, that's what it is: "$match = $val[0];".

-sam

I did a little snooping and tweaked my code:

#!/usr/bin/perl -w

use strict;
use Fcntl;
use DBI;
use File::Basename;
use Text::English;

#input Words

print "Give a list of words:\n\n";

my $query = <STDIN>;

my @words = split /\s*(,|\s+)/, $query;

#File Type:


print "Give a file type (email, article):\n\n";

my $type = <STDIN>;

my %paths = search(\@words, $type);


for my $val (keys %paths)
{
        my $file = $paths{$val};
        print "$file \n";

}

sub search
{
        my($words, $type) = @_;
        my($dbh, $sth1, $sth2, $rule_append, $word, $file_index);
        my %matches;

        #Database Connection:
         $dbh = DBI->connect( "DBI:mysql:host=localhost;database=test"
+,
                    "test", "test", {PrintError=>0,RaiseError=>1});

        #Establish Rules for file type:

        CASE:
        {
                if($type = "email")
                {
                        $rule_append = "where filetype = 'email' ";
                        last CASE;
                }
                if($type = "article")
                {
                        $rule_append = "where filetype = 'article' ";
                        last CASE;
                }
                $rule_append = "where filetype = 'article' OR filetype
+ = 'email' ";
        }#End of Rule

        foreach $word(@$words)
        {
                my $match;
                ( $word ) = Text::English::stem( $word ); 
                my @poss;

                #round 1:  Find all file pertaining to word.
                my $statement1 = "SELECT files FROM catalog WHERE word
+s LIKE %".$word."%";
                $sth1 = $dbh -> prepare($statement1);
                $sth1 -> execute();

                while(my @val = $sth1 -> fetchrow_array())
                {
                        $match = $val[0]; #Get List of files.

                        #Parse Files and Check for matches within.

                        @poss = split(/:/, $match); 
                        foreach $file_index(@poss)
                        {
                                $sth2 = $dbh ->prepare("select filenam
+e, type from library 
                                                        where filename
+ = $file_index 
                                                        and".$rule_app
+end);
                        $sth2 -> execute();

                                if(my @val2 = $sth2->fetchrow_array())
                                {
                                        $matches{$val2[0]} =  $val2[1]
+;
                                }

                        } # All Relevant Files found.
                }# Cycle through all possible matches.

        }       #End of word search loop

        return(%matches);
        #$dbh -> disconnect;

}#End of search Function
[download]

Now I get these errors:

Undefined subroutine &Text::English::stem called at search.pl line 64,
+ <STDIN> line 2.
Issuing rollback() for database handle being DESTROY'd without explici
+t disconnect(), <STDIN> line 2.
[download]

However, I know that the English stem module is installed, as I have used it before. Any ideas?

One mistake I see in your code is this:

my @words = split /\s*(,|\s+)/, $query;
[download]

I think you want:

my @words = split /\s*(?:,|\s+)/, $query;
[download]

If you have capturing parens in your split regex, what they capture gets returned also! You don't want commas and whitespace in your @words array, do you? As for the Text::English problem, I can't figure out why the module would load without incident but stem() not exist.

---

Jeff japhy Pinyan, P.L., P.M., P.O.D, X.S.: Perl, regex, and perl hacker
How can we ever be the sold short or the cheated, we who for every service have long ago been overpaid? ~~ Meister Eckhart

Turns out that someone removed the English pm from my server. I put it back. (I'm the programmer, its my party.) Now it fails on the email searches.

Here is the revised code:

 #!/usr/bin/perl -w

use strict;
use Fcntl;
use DBI;
use File::Basename;
use Text::English;

#input Words

print "Give a list of words:\t";

my $query = <STDIN>;

my @words = split(/\s*(?:,|\s+)/, $query);

#File Type:


print "Give a file type (email, article):\t";

my $type = <STDIN>;

my %paths = search(\@words, $type);

for my $val (keys %paths)
{
        my $ft = $paths{$val};
        print "$ft : $val \n";

}

sub search
{
        my($words, $type) = @_;
        my($dbh, $sth1, $sth2, $rule_append, $word, $file_index);
        my %matches;

        #Database Connection:
         $dbh = DBI->connect( "DBI:mysql:host=localhost;database=testd
+b",
                    "testuser", "testpass", {PrintError=>0,RaiseError=
+>1});

        #Establish Rules for file type:

        CASE:
        {
                if($type eq "email")
                {
                        $rule_append = "filetype = \"email\" ";
                        last CASE;
                }
                if($type eq "article")
                {
                        $rule_append = "filetype = \"article\" ";
                        last CASE;
                }
                $rule_append = "filetype = \"article\" OR  \"email\" "
+;
        }#End of Rule

        foreach $word(@$words)
        {
                my $match;
                ( $word ) = Text::English::stem( $word ); 
                my @poss;

                #round 1:  Find all file pertaining to word.
                my $statement1 = "SELECT files FROM catalog WHERE word
+ LIKE \"%$word%\" ";
                $sth1 = $dbh -> prepare($statement1);
                $sth1 -> execute();

                while(my @val = $sth1 -> fetchrow_array())
                {
                        $match = $val[0]; #Get List of files.

                        #Parse Files and Check for matches within.

                        @poss = split(/:/, $match); 
                        foreach $file_index(@poss)
                        {
                                $sth2 = $dbh ->prepare("select filenam
+e, filetype from library 
                                                        where filename
+ like \"%$file_index%\" 
                                                        and ".$rule_ap
+pend);
                        $sth2 -> execute();
                                if(my @val2 = $sth2->fetchrow_array())
                                {
                                        $matches{$val2[0]} =  $val2[1]
+;
                                }


                        } # All Relevant Files found.
                }# Cycle through all possible matches.

        }       #End of word search loop

        return(%matches);
        #$dbh -> disconnect;

}#End of search Function
[download]

Now, it runs through the DB w/o a problem, but now it dies on the search itself.

Give a list of words:   test,diamonds,perl
Give a file type (email, article):      article
Issuing rollback() for database handle being DESTROY'd without explici
+t disconnect() at search.pl line 26, <STDIN> line 2.
[download]