CGI Scripts
to Create a Website with Interactive Features

Search the Database

This there are 2 scripts in this exercise. The first is a form that asks the user for a last name. The second script searches names_file.txt and returns the information.

search_form.pl

This script asks the user to enter a last name. Save this script in the cgi-bin\ directory. It could also have been written as an HTML document and saved in the htdocs\ directory. (Note: For html change action to action="cgi-bin/search_file.pl") Notice the action attribute of the form calls for a script named search_file.pl

#!/usr/bin/perl
#search_form.pl
print "Content-type:text/html\n\n"; #Content Header

print "<html>\n";
print "<head><title>Search Form</title></head>\n";
print "<body>\n";
print "<form method=\"POST\" action=\"search_file.pl\">\n";
print "<pre>\n";
print "Enter Last Name:<input type=\"text\" name=\"search\" size=\"20\">\n";
print "<input type=\"submit\" value=\"Submit\"><input type=\"reset\">\n";
print "</pre>\n";
print "</form>\n";
print "</body>\n";
print "</html>\n";

Test this Script

search_file.pl

This script will take the information entered on the form, parse it, open names_file.txt and search for a match.

#!/usr/bin/perl
#search_file.pl
read(STDIN, $buffer,$ENV{'CONTENT_LENGTH'});
$buffer =~ tr/+/ /;
$buffer =~ s/\r/ /g;
$buffer =~ s/\n/ /g;
@pairs = split(/&/,$buffer);
foreach $pair(@pairs){
($key,$value)=split(/=/,$pair);
$formdata{$key}.="$value";
}
$search=$formdata{'search'};

open(INFO, "names_file.txt"); # Open db for reading
@array=<INFO>;
close (INFO);

print "Content-type:text/html\n\n"; #Content Header

print "<html>\n";
print "<head><title>Display File Contents</title></head>\n";
print "<body>\n";
print "<h4>This script displays the contents of names_file.txt.<br>No names means your search returned no results.</h4>\n";

foreach $line (@array){
if ($line =~ /$search/){
($last,$first)=split(/\|/,$line);
print "Your search returned: $first $last<br>\n";
}
}

print "</body>\n";
print "</html>\n";

names_file.txt

If you haven't completed the previous exercises, copy this file to notepad. Save it in the cgi-bin directory as names_file.txt.

Bunyan|Paul
Simpson|Bart
Anderson|Pamela
Bush|George

Note: If the scripts don't work:
1...Check the shebang line and make sure it is the path recommended by your web host to access the perl interpreter on your server.
2...Be sure to use the Chmod function on your ftp client or file manager to change the permissions of the script to 755