if I'm reading it right using your code if a file exists with the same name as an open filehandle it will ignore the existing filehandle and open the file (which is not what you want). You should really test to see if the parameter is an already open filehandle. You can do this like so: 
if (fileno $file_or_handle) {
    # $file_or_handle is a filehandle
} else {
    # $file_or_handle is a file
    # test for existance and open
}

[download]
the fileno() function returns the file descriptor for an open filehandle or it returns undef if the filehandle is not open.

John

In reply to Re: test if a scalar contains a filename or a filehandle? by Cyrnus
in thread test if a scalar contains a filename or a filehandle? by mull

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.