How can I run only a determined part of script not using if/then statements

[einerwitzen]

yes i've looked around but i still don't understand much, i wrote this up and I don't understand why it doesn't work. No matter what $func is, it only runs the first if-statement. Maybe give me an example of how to do this without if/thens or point out my dumb mistake :)

#!/usr/bin/perl

use CGI;
$query = new CGI;
$func = $query->param("func");
$file = $query->param("file");
@text = $query->param("text");
print $query->header ( );

if ($func == "vi")
{
    if (-1 != index($file, '.'))
    {
        open (FILE, ">/home/3dwccom/www/$file") ||
        die "file must have .extension";
        print FILE @text;
        close (FILE);
        print "File created successfully!";
    }
    else
    {
        die "name must have a . in it.";
    }
}
elsif ($func == "edit")
{
    open (PAGE, ">../$file") ||
    die print "couldn't open file";
    print PAGE @text;
    close (PAGE);
    print "File successfully edited";
}
elsif ($func == "rm")
{
    `rm /home/3dwccom/www/$file` ||
    die "couldn't remove file";
    print "Success";
}
else {
print "there was an error";
}

Multiple forms submit to this so I'd like to keep only the listed variable, not different ones for each part.

[grep]

'==' is a numeric comparison. You want 'eq' for text.

Change
if ($func == "vi")
for
if ($func eq "vi")
and you are set.

also you should check out perlop

UPDATE: PLEASE follow busunsl's suggestions I would also suggest Ovid's CGI Course it addresses many security concerns.

grep

grep> cd pub grep> more beer

[busunsl]

In addition to grep's answer:

Adding use warnings; to your code will give you warnings upon errors like this.

Additionally: using filenames entered by users is probably not a good idea. What if the filename is '../../*' and $func is 'rm'?

Do yourself a favour and read a bit about taint.

Also consider using strict and error messages that give you more information than just that something failed.

[hakkr]

You can use a hash of function refs to simulate a switch statement. You'll need to break your blocks of code into subroutines.

#!/usr/bin/perl

use CGI;
use strict;
use warnings;
my $query = new CGI;
my $func = $query->param("func");
my $file = $query->param("file");
my @text = $query->param("text");
print $query->header ( );

my %functions=('rm'=>\&rm, 'edit'=>\&edit, 'vi'=>\&vi);

#call your block of code
$functions{$func};

sub rm {
    `rm /home/3dwccom/www/$file` ||
    die "couldn't remove file";
    print "Success";
}

sub vi {
        open (FILE, ">/home/3dwccom/www/$file") ||
        die "file must have .extension";
        print FILE @text;
        close (FILE);
        print "File created successfully!";
   
}

sub edit {
    open (PAGE, ">../$file") ||
    die print "couldn't open file";
    print PAGE @text;
    close (PAGE);
    print "File successfully edited";

}