i am trying to remove the last line of a text file like this:

open(DATFILE,">>$DATFILE") || die "no dice";
flock(DATFILE, $LOCK_EXCLUSIVE);
@DATA = <DATFILE>;
$N = 0;
foreach $LINE (@DATA) {
$N = ++$N;
}
truncate (DATFILE, "--$N");
close(DATFILE);
}

but it wipes the whole file.
where did i go wrong?

thanks

The error is opening the file in the append mode .
In perl when you open the file in append mode , the file pointer goes to the end of the file .

Try this code

open(DATFILE,">>my_file.txt") || die "no such file";
flock(DATFILE, $LOCK_EXCLUSIVE);
@DATA = <DATFILE>;
print @DATA;

The output will be nothing because we are already at the end
of the file.

Plz do tell me if I am wrong.

well that sounds logical to me.
Does My count loop look right?
While messing around with the code I was able to delete everything in the file with truncate() after opening with ">>$DATFILE".
I also added the $N used as a counter in the code I posted just to see if that was counting up but it never seemed to.
it may be that i collected the value for $N at the wrong time.
gonna try ">$DATFILE" and see what happens.
thanks

If you use '>$DATFILE' i.e , you are opening the file in write mode
Then , the entire file would become empty after the line

open(DATFILE,">my_file.txt") || die "no such file";

So , I suppose the correct way would be to


open(DATFILE,"my_text.txt") || die "no read";
flock(DATFILE, $LOCK_EXCLUSIVE);
@DATA = <DATFILE>;
close(DATFILE);
open(DATFILE,">my_text.txt") || die "no write";
for($i=0;$i<$#DATA;$i++)
{
print DATFILE $DATA[$i];
}
close(DATFILE);

As far as i know (from my own use) truncate receives a position in bytes from which to truncate the file from. So if you pass it "1" it will get rid of everything past the first byte. So you'll need the seek() and tell() functions to do what you want.

A quick test that i wrote:
I'm sure there are better ways to achieve the same thing, but it works, so i thought i'd post it anyway.

Hope this helps

well I tried Satan's last snippet. and it erased everything in the file.
coolman's suggestion did not do anything.
I'm at a bit of a loss. what is "$#N" versus "$N"
I think i like opening the file, reading all lines to @DATA and then overwriting the file and printing all the lines back but the last one.
Thats what satan was going for i think.
I'm gonna crack this nut somehow.
thanks for your help so far.

No , my code works fine . I have checked it on my P.C and it worked fine removing the last line ......

Even coolman's code works grt.

Dunno why it doesn't work on your P.C .

Plz check again ....



Reply if it doesn't


P.S :- Regarding $#my_array it is the index of the last element in the array "my_array"

it aint pretty but it does work

open(DATFILE,"$DATFILE") || die "no read";
@DATA = <DATFILE>;
$N = 0;
foreach $DATA (@DATA) {
$N++;
}
close(DATFILE);
open(DATFILE,">$DATFILE") || die "no write";
flock(DATFILE, $LOCK_EXCLUSIVE);
$D = ($N-1);
$C = 0;
foreach $DATA (@DATA) {
while($C < $D){
print DATFILE "$DATA[$C]";
$C++;
}
}
close(DATFILE);

thanks guys

the problem was that the script that i wrote to add lines to the file
was putting everything all on the same line. I'm a fool
what i had come up with originally to delete lines also works.
alls well that ends well.
later on
scott

open(DATFILE,">>file") || die "no dice";
flock(DATFILE, $LOCK_EXCLUSIVE);
@DATA = <DATFILE>;
$N = 0;
foreach $LINE (@DATA) {
$N = ++$N;
}
print $N;
truncate (DATFILE, "--$N");
close(DATFILE);


I just modified ur first post by adding a print statement for $N

The output is $N=0 Thatz why all the lines were being deleted....

So, I don't think the first code of your's works and the reason I suppose is what I have given in post 2

yeah i just came to the same conclusion.
I still have the problem that when i add to the text file from my script
everything winds up on the same line. here is the routine for adding to the file.

my $TEXT = param("itext");
open(DATFILE,">>$DATFILE") || ($MESG = "could not open $DATFILE");
flock(DATFILE, $LOCK_EXCLUSIVE);
print DATFILE '<p>';
print DATFILE "$TEXT";
print DATFILE '</p>';
$MESG = ' text added successfully';
close(DATFILE);

this is run from a form. and then the whole script is reloaded
then when i use the form again, it goes on the same line as the previous.
thanks alot for all you help. slowly starting to get a handle on all of this.

Instead of this you can have

print DATFILE "</p>\n";

So that "\n" i.e, a newline character is also written on to the file

The next time you call the form It'll go on to the next line automatically..

P.S :- I assumed that this line is the last line that is being
written on to the file at one time ...

your assuption is correct.
now i guess i'll have to figure out how to use
chop() so that when i read the file into my HTML i don't see the
"\n"?
thanks a million

I don't see any reason why you should use "chop" ....

<html><p>SaTaN</p></html>

and

<html><p>SaTaN</p>
</html>


both give the same page as output ......

I am sorry if I have understood the previous post wrong ....

seems i don't need chop() at all.
works perfectly
this is great.
I think that spells the end of this thread.

thanks again.