I am trying to read and write from a file but it only seems to write to the file but not read it while in the shell-konsole. If I run the script through my web browser it will not read or write to data.txt. I just need to know how to carry over the two variables from the data.txt I realize it is probably a simple solution I just don't know even the proper terminology for what I want to do so I can't google it

#!/usr/bin/perl

use CGI ':standard';
#use CGI::Carp "fatalToBrowser";

$i=param('i');

$i++;

print header;

$dice1=int(rand(6)+1);
$dice2=int(rand(6)+1);

#this line is to see if  it carries over the $i variable
#print "this is $i";

if($i ==1)
{
$firstroll1=$dice1;
$firstroll2= $dice2;
}
if ($i == 1){
open (DICE, ">data.txt");
print DICE "$firstroll1  $firstroll2";
close DICE;
}elsif ($i > 1){
open (DICE, ">data.txt");
while (<DICE>) {
($firstroll1,$firstroll2)=split (/\|/);
}
close DICE;}

print "$firstroll1 and $firstroll2";

print "<center>
<table border=1>
<tr><td><img src=http://localhost/pix/dice$dice1.gif>
<td><img src=http://localhost/pix/dice$dice2.gif>
</tr>
</tables>";

print "$firstroll1 and $firstroll2";

if (($dice1 + $dice2 ==7) or ($dice1 + $dice2 ==11)) {
print "you win";
print "<hr><a href = http://localhost>play again?</a>";
exit()
}elsif (($dice1 + $dice2 ==12) or ($dice1 + $dice2 ==2)) {
print "you lose";
print "<hr><a href = http://localhost>play again?</a>";
exit()

}elsif (($i > 1) and ($dice1 ==$firstroll1) and ($dice2 == $firstroll2
+)) {
print "match";
print "<hr><a href = http://localhost>play again?</a>";
exit()


}elsif (($i > 1) and ($dice1 ==$firstroll2) and ($dice2 == $firstroll1
+)) {
print "match";
print "<hr><a href = http://localhost>play again?</a>";
exit()
}


#print "this is roll number $i";
print "<a href=dice.cgi?&i=$i>Roll Again?</a>";
[download]

I know how to keep the variables in other ways but I would really rather learn to do it this way