Wow. Now this is turning into sort of a train wreck.

I tried inputting your code into a separate file and compiling and I keep getting the following error and I don't know what it means:

Global symbol "$tables_db_list_file" requires explicit package name at
+ ./playFunction.pl line 15.
[download]

The error message means that you made a spelling error when you tried to recreate my sample code. (Why didn't you just download or copy/paste it?) My code does not contain a variable called "$tables_db_list_file" (note the extra "s" in "tables_"), but your version of the code does, and since "use strict" is in there, that is what is causing the error. Just take that "s" out and it should compile.

As for that long paragraph of yours in italics, I don't know what to say. Your original post in this thread talked about reading and comparing two files. That's what my code does.

Don't panic. Spend some time reading manual pages. When you don't know how to interpret an error message, paste the msssage into a google search box (at least, parts that do not include specific names of your variables or files), because it'll turn up somewhere on the web with a decent explanation. Probably the best place to search first is in the perldiag manual page.