Building array need help

[proggybilly]

Ok so I have a script that I am writing that pulls lines from a file into an array. I am then cycling through that array and looking for lines that say LOGIN. From those lines I am pulling the date (it is a log file) and the userid and placing them into variables $zdate and $zuser. What I want to do now is place those two variables into an array for sorting. Once i have them in an array, I will sort through and delete multiple instances of $zuser.. Since a user is likely to log on more than once per day, there will be several elements containing the same userid. I want my array to only show the first instance.. What I am planning on doing is taking this array, and updating an MySQL table with the last date of login for that userid.
here is what I have so far

##
## Search mail log for expression LOGIN
##
open(MAIL_LOG, $MAIL_LOG) || die("Could not open MAIL_LOG");
@mail_line=<MAIL_LOG>;
close MAIL_LOG;

$search = " LOGIN";
foreach $mail_line(@new_mail_line){
 if($mail_line=~/$search/){
  $zmonth = $months{substr($mail_line,0,3)};
  $zday = substr($mail_line,4,2);
  $zdate = substr($mail_line,0,6);
  my($zuser) = ($mail_line =~ /user=([^@]+)@/);
  @zdate = $zdate;
  @zuser = $zuser;
  @update = (\@zdate,\@zuser);
 }
}

Where I am getting hung up at is putting the array together then writing it to a file the entries in my file just say something like: Array(0x830bc68)

 

[stevexff]

Don't use an array, use a hash. Then you won't have to worry about de-duping it and sorting it. Something like

my %logins;
..
..
$logins{$user} = $date;
..
..

foreach my $u (sort keys %logins) {
   print "UPDATE myTab SET last_update = '$logins{$u}'
      WHERE userid = '$u';\n";
}

Not tested, but you get the idea...

Steve

[small]"Every program can be reduced by one instruction, and every program has at least one bug. Therefore, any program can be reduced to one instruction which doesn't work." (Object:erlDesignPatterns)[/small]

 

[proggybilly]

Thanks, I'll give it a try.

 

[proggybilly]

Hey thanks, that worked fabulously!! All my programming projects here at work are done in languages I have not learned yet so I have to dive right in, thank the heavens for people on here who are experienced.