If you want to follow blakem advice and use the
POSIX module, here is how to do it.
There is no newline here, plus you don't fork an external process just to fetch the date.
use POSIX qw/ strftime /; # standard module
$today = strftime("%D", localtime); # localtime in list context
You could even do it this other way, but be careful with
embedded %-sign in your variables. That might bite you.
use POSIX qw/ strftime /;
open trf, ">/tmp/.$handle";
print trf strftime("$handle|$crpw|$first_name|$last_name|$email_addy|0
+|%D", localtime);
close trf;