open file does not work for externally defined filename

[cristianekw]

Hi, I have a strange problem here. Using getoptions, I get and store a file name. After some operations, I get this string to append something to this file. Using open command, I can read it, but I canīt write in it. If I use open(FH,">>$file") it does not work. But it works fine If I use open(FH,">>c:\\logfile.log"). I thought it could be a slash problem, but if I call the program with any number of slash, the problem persists. Am I making something wrong? Thanks for any help.

[kyle]

Let Perl tell you what the error is.

open my $fh, '>>', $file
   or die "Can't append to '$file': $!";

Note the use of three argument open and $! to get the error (see perlvar).

[Corion]

What is the error message you get when opening your file?

open( FH, ">>$file")
    or die "Couldn't open '$file' for output: $!";

Also, what is the value of $file?

[rafl]

When a call to open() fails it returns undef and sets the special variable $!, which will allow you to find out what exactly is going wrong.

[derby]

Can you post more code ... like how $file is set? Also, try checking the return value of the open call:

  open( FH, ">>", $file ) or die "Cannot open $file: $!\n";

... but if I call the program with any number of slash ...

As MJD says you can't just make shit up and expect the computer to know what you mean (Good 'ole #11901)

[webfiend]

Just for the sake of completeness ... try Fatal if you're opening lots of files or maybe just feel like writing different boilerplate:

use Fatal qw(open close);
#...
open(FH, ">>c:\\logfile.log");
#..

[FunkyMonk]

perl will tell you what it thinks the problem is if you add or die $! on to the end of your open statements:

open(FH,">>$file")            or die $!;
open(FH,">>c:\\logfile.log")  or die $!;

If they don't help you sort out your problem, you will have to show us some more code before we can help you further

PS

wrapping your code in <code> ... </code> tags will format it just like mine above.

[cristianekw]

It was an eclipse error... Sorry... I'm using EPIC to develop in PERL. EPIC does not run very well in some cases... :( Does anyone know a better plug-in or editor?

[Corion]

You should try to run your code outside of EPIC or whatever environment you use, especially when you are hunting errors.

You could also have told us what error you get in EPIC, but it's far more fun to keep us guessing!

[cristianekw]

This is the problem: it does not show any error!!! Just freeze!