I'm afraid your going to wince when I tell you this...

You simply forgot a comment character:

        -----Generate the output string-----
[download]

but it should be:

        #-----Generate the output string-----
[download]

That's why you're getting the "Can't modify negation (-) in predecrement (--) ..." message ;-)

Update:  By the way, with Perl programming you can make things easier for yourself by adding two lines to near the beginning of the script:

use strict;
use warnings;
[download]

Granted you will now get lots of warning messages:

Global symbol "$line2" requires explicit package name at SS7Merge.pl l
+ine 37.
Global symbol "$date" requires explicit package name at SS7Merge.pl li
+ne 38.
Global symbol "$number_dialed" requires explicit package name at SS7Me
+rge.pl line 39.
Global symbol "$line2" requires explicit package name at SS7Merge.pl l
+ine 41.
Global symbol "$date" requires explicit package name at SS7Merge.pl li
+ne 41.
Global symbol "$line2" requires explicit package name at SS7Merge.pl l
+ine 41.
Global symbol "$number_dialed" requires explicit package name at SS7Me
+rge.pl line 41.
Global symbol "$record_type" requires explicit package name at SS7Merg
+e.pl line 42.
Global symbol "$carrier_info" requires explicit package name at SS7Mer
+ge.pl line 45
...
[download]

but in the long run this will help more than hinder, as your mistakes will be caught early and often.

Thanks. This is my first shot at Perl and all I can say to that is DOH! Unfortunately when I run this I now get this error:

Name "main::FH" used only once: possible typo at ./SS7Merge line 35.
Name "main::output_line" used only once: possible typo at ./SS7Merge line 62.
seek() on unopened filehandle FH at /System/Library/Perl/5.8.6/Tie/File.pm line 93.
Tie::File: your filehandle does not appear to be seekable at ./SS7Merge line 35

Could my useage of Tie::File be incorrect? Is there another way search file_2 for the matching string from file_1 one line at a time as opposed to using something like:


@input2=<infile2>
[download]

Thank you kind monks for your assistance,
Stephen

Well, as I said above, you'd best "use strict;" and "use warnings;"

Then you'll notice that in some places you've used $input2 and some places $input_file2 (I'm guessing you probably want the latter, to match the other variables).

Here's what I've done to get rid of all the warnings, in most cases merely adding my to your variables to make them lexically scoped:

use File::Copy;
use Tie::File;

use strict;
use warnings;

my($input_file1) = $ARGV[0];
my($input_file2) = $ARGV[1];
my($output_file) = $ARGV[2];

if ( !defined($input_file1) || !defined($input_file2) || !defined($out
+put_file) ) {
    print "Error: usage: ./SS7Merge input_file1 input_file2 output_fil
+e\n";
}
else {
    # -----Backup the input files in case of error-----
    copy( $input_file1, $input_file1 . ".bak" ) or
        die "Could not backup file 1 $input_file1 to $input_file1.bak:
+ $!\n";
    copy( $input_file2, $input_file2 . ".bak" ) or
        die "Could not backup file 2 $input_file2 to $input_file2.bak:
+ $!\n";

    # -----Attempt to open all of the files-----
    open( INFILE1, $input_file1 ) || die( "Could not read input file 1
+ ($input_file1): $!" );
    open( OUTPUT, "> " . $output_file ) || die( "Could not open output
+ file ($output_file): $!" );

# We are going to read file2 into an array. The file will not be loade
+d into memory which will improve processing of large files.

use FileHandle;
my $fh = new FileHandle;
my @input_file2;
tie @input_file2, 'Tie::File', \$fh, or die "Problem tying file $input
+_file2: $!"; 

while (<INFILE1>) {
        my $line = $_;
        chomp($line);

        # -----A line starting with a '2' is a header and is left unch
+anged
        if ( $line !~ m/^2/ ) {

            foreach my $line2 (@input_file2) {
                my $date = substr( $line, 6, 6 );
                my $number_dialed = substr( $line, 29, 10 );

                if ( index( $line2, $date ) != -1 and index( $line2, $
+number_dialed ) != -1 ) {
                    my $record_type = substr( $line, 5, 2 );

                    # -----From File2-----
                    my $carrier_info = substr( $line2, 44, 5 );
                    my $destination_number = substr( $line2, 122, 10 )
+;

                    my $connect_time = substr( $line, 54, 6 );
                    my $send_to_OCN = substr( $line, 186, 4 );

                    $record_type = "25";
                    $send_to_OCN = "2604";

                    #-----Generate the output string-----
                    my $output_line = substr( $line, 0, 4 ) . $record_
+type . $date . substr( $line, 12, 17 )
                        . $number_dialed . substr( $line, 39, 5 )
                        . $carrier_info . substr( $line, 49, 5 )
                        . $connect_time . substr( $line, 60, 62 )
                        . $destination_number . substr( $line, 132, 54
+ )
                        . $send_to_OCN . substr( $line, 190, 20 ) . "\
+n";

#                    -----Debug code. Add in if you are experiencing p
+roblems-----
#                    print OUTPUT $output_line;
#                    print STDOUT "Output " . ++$outputcount . "\n";

                    last;
                }
            }
        }
        else {
            print OUTPUT $line . "\n";
        }
    }
# Untie the array before closing the file use

    untie @input_file2;

# -----Close all of the files-----
    close( INFILE1 );
    close( OUTPUT );
}
[download]

Hopefully that will get you farther...

---

s''(q.S:$/9=(T1';s;(..)(..);$..=substr+crypt($1,$2),2,3;eg;print$..$/