append text to a file

mhoang has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

I write the script to generate the report, I need to add data to the file,and create the heading if it is a new page. I donot know why it keeps addding the heading to the file every time I run the script.I do not know what is wrong with my script, pls help me, thanks

if($status == 0)
{
$Msg=<<MSG;
    Copy is successful!!!
                        
MSG
sendAdminMessage($Msg, \@emailAddressAdmins);

#Generate the log file
open(OUTFILE, ">>$outputFile") || die "Unable to open file[$outputFile
+] for writing: $!\n";
$| = 1; # Auto-flush output = on
print "page number [$=]\n";
write OUTFILE;
close OUTFILE;
    
# Output formatting:
=========================================================
format OUTFILE_TOP =
Staff Extra Bulletin Log    Pg @<<
                $%                                         
Filename   Last-Updated            Current 
======================================================
.

format OUTFILE = 
@<<<<<<<<<<<<<     @<<<<<<<    @<<<<<<<<
$fileone,$oldTime,$newTime                                 .          
+     
}
else
{
exit(0);
}
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Comment on append text to a file Download Code

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: append text to a file by cdarke (Prior) on Aug 04, 2011 at 07:29 UTC
Perl and the format command have no knowledge of what is already in the file, it does not magically remember that you already added a heading, it assumes you are running from the start. You need to keep a record of the line count yourself somewhere, either in this file or another, or read the whole file each time to figure out what $- should be.	[reply]
Re^2: append text to a file by mhoang (Acolyte) on Aug 08, 2011 at 00:35 UTC
Thank u. Got it !	[reply]
Re: append text to a file by Marshall (Canon) on Aug 05, 2011 at 14:09 UTC
Another approach is to split the data collection from the report generation. Put this data: $fileone,$oldTime,$newTime out using a .cvs format. Read that file and generate a report for the humans whenever you need to.	[reply]