sub BuildMMList
{
  ## enforce strict programming methods (see strict)
  ##   if you can't do this for the whole script, do it in each
  ##   subroutine until the whole script has been refactored
  ## while you're at it, use warnings, too (see warnings)
  use strict;
  use warnings;

  ## pass parameters to the subroutine -- global variables are trouble
  ## assign the passed parameters to variables local to the scope of the sub
  my( $list, $mm_file ) = @_;

  ## use the three parameter form of open (see perlfunc)
  ## localize your filehandles to avoid namespace pollution
  ## don't quote variables unneccessarially (see perlvar)
  ## don't use the '&' sigil when calling subs (see perlsub)
  ## make your error messages verbose
  open( local *FILE, '<', $mm_file )
    or error_message( "$0: Can't open data file: $mm_file: $!");

  ## use a while loop to process the file in memory
  ## this avoids temp variables, and avoids c-like for loops
  while( <*FILE> )
  {
    ## use the 3-arg form of split to limit fields
    ## throw away other fields by assigning to 'undef'
    my( $opt, undef ) = split /``/, $_, 2;

    ## use quote operators, so quote characters don't need to be escaped
    print qq{<option value="$opt">$opt</option>\n};
  }
}

##</code><code>##

.