return the number of records (rows) in a flat file db?

[deppeler]

I am wanting to return the number of records (rows) in a flat file db.
My script is a resource kit library and each item has a catalog number ($catnumber), instead of the user having to remember the next catalog number to enter as they add a record, I want to be able to either show them the next number or have it as a value in a field on the form.

I just need to know how to return the total number of records (rows?) in the db as a number (plus 1..that would be their next catalog ($catnumber) number)

is it something to do with rec_count?

I tried:
open (DB, "< /full/path/db/db.txt") || die "cannot open full/path/db/db.txt: $!";
while (<DB>) {
($catnumber) = split(",");
}
But what I got was the value ($catnumber) of the LAST record they entered.

thanks

[deppeler]

I meant use append mode if all you want to do is write some more data to the end of the file, not use it to count the number of lines in the file. If you want to count the number of lines there is no need for an extra variable:

open (FILE, 'yourfile');
while(<FILE>){
$num_of_records = $.;
}
$num_of_records += 1; 

"+=" adds whatever value is on the right to the variable on the left in one step. So if there are 100 lines in the file, $num_of_records will equal 101.

Millers link was:

how do I count the number of lines in a file

Great thanks for all your help!

Paul