Hmmm, this looks like the parsing code from the old Perl/CGI Quickstart book that got me in trouble with the monks back in '03.

Besides the obvious (not using CGI), do consider a database like MySQL to do the heavy lifting for you. It's almost a language unto itself, but it will make storing and retrieving data so much easier. And chances are, it's installed on your web server already.

And if you do get into MySQL, read the amazing DBI recipes