Writing the data to a file is one way to do it. Your problem is the open statement and the issue of precedence. You need parentheses like this:

open (ORGIDATA, ">orig") || die "Couldn't open! $!";
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This will work although it is usually wise to specify a path when you open a file even if it is ./ just so you know where to look for the file. You can write it like you did if you use 'or' instead of '||'

open ORGIDATA, ">orig" or die "Couldn't open! $!";
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Because the || operator binds tighter than the comma what you had was seen by perl as

open ORGIDATA, (">orig" || die "Couldn't open! $!");
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whereas the comma binds tighter than or. This is a really common problem until you work out what is going on. By the way your 'if ($classid[$k] != $classid[$k-1])' compares the first element to the last element of your array when $k=0 as $k-1 = -1 and -1 is the index of the last element. I presume the @classid contains numbers only as you are using the numeric comparator. If they are strings you will need 'ne'. I only mention this because when I was new to perl it took a bit of getting used to vis:

          numeric    string
equality    ==         eq
inequality  !=         ne
sorting    <=>         cmp

Whoops getting side tracked. Hope this helps.

cheers

tachyon

s&&rsenoyhcatreve&&&s&n\w+t&"$'$`$\"$\&"&ee&&y&srve&&d&&print

Regarding your code, tachyon has said it, no need to repeat.

I suggest using CGI.pm, if you aren't already. That will solve your persistence problem, since re-invocations of the script automatically get the current cgi param=val pairs as hidden fields. The CGI pod calls these "sticky". You should treat this data as tainted.

After Compline,
Zaxo

Update: Reply to deryni, CGI.pm places all the current cgi data gathered in the next form written as hidden fields. I believe that only happens if the form action refers to the current script. 'man CGI' and search for 'sticky', 'hidden', and see the section on urls.

On a seperate and, I think, somewhat odd note I noticed that whatever I do after I have the open ORGIDATA, ">orig" || die "Couldn't open! $!"; line doesn't happen (i.e. prints don't print etc.). I'm completely baffled as to why.

For example modifying the above code to this:

open ORGIDATA, ">orig" || die "Couldn't open! $!";
for (my $k = 0; $k < @classid; $k++) {
    if ($classid[$k] != $classid[$k-1]) {
       print $classid[$k], " ", @{$class[$k]}, " ", $location
+[$k], " ", $credits[$k], "<br>\\
n";
    }
}
close ORGIDATA;
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Yes, Zaxo, I am using CGI.pm, I hadn't known about that feature of CGI.pm so I went to do some research to see how it worked. I found the save function and tried using that but it didn't work (functioned same as above). If I missed your point please correct me.

deryni,

just a heads up...

open ORGIDATA, ">orig" || die "Couldn't open! $!";
       for (my $k = 0; $k < @classid; $k++) {
           if ($classid[$k] != $classid[$k-1]) {
              print $classid[$k], " ", @{$class[$k]}, " ", $location
       +[$k], " ", $credits[$k], "<br>\\
       n";
           }
       }
       close ORGIDATA;
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if the print within the loop is supposed to output to the "orig" file, then you'll want to use the file handle in the print statement:

        print ORGIDATA $classid[$k], " ", @{$class[$k]}, " ", $locatio
+n
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Thank you for that information, I was using the print line with the filehandle but decided
that in the interest of debugging I'd just have it print on the bottom of the webpage (easier to see if it worked).


My real question here is why after the open line the print doesn't happen. Regardless of where I'm printing the print just does not occur.
I have previously opened and closed two other filehandles in the program and there are something like 10 global arrays in the program. I don't know if any of that is important but thought I'd tell you anyway.

First suggestion: try using something like CGI::Persistent (admittedly not my favorite... I'm rolling my own CGI::Session for a project which does things very differently). There's a whole bunch of other persistent storage modules around, I think there's even a mailing list called <acronym>POOP</acronym> (Perl Object Oriented Persistence).

Why use these? They keep track of individual sessions (what if multiple people go to your web page at the same time?) and the associated file management etc.

As to your specific example: does the web user have permissions to modify the file? (I suggest you do not save session data in the same folder as your web scripts, which is what your example looks like it's doing ... you're asking for trouble securitywise if you do.)

You're also not locking the file. That could get you into trouble if somebody else tries to access the process (hey? what if the user doesn't like the speed of the page and hits reload? Imagine two processes from the same script are accessing the file, even if only one user is using the script).