I think maybe you could improve performance and make the code more concise by opening and closing the log files only once, at the beginning of the script. Just a thought.

Another (simpler?) way you could handle the errors is with your own error sub... 
unlink ($_) or &error(1,"Unable to open file: $_");

sub error
   {
   open the log and print out stuff (including $!)
   if the first variable is 1, exit the script          (die style)
   if the first variable is 0, return to where you were (warn style)
   }

[download]
the advantage of a sub like that is that you can copy it to any script with no modification. It is a lot easier than messing with an error file every time.

In reply to suggestion by ColonelPanic
in thread A couple of problems.... by djw

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.