How to clear the data each time I call a function?

[tuxy94]

I do not understand why the variable @data_file keeps the data from the previous call.
My goal is to use this in order to clean a file from specific lines I do not desire, I do so, but if I run this method twice, it will append the data
of the current call after the data from the previous call. Is there a way I can reset the @data_file each time the function is called or is there something I can do to help?

Here is the code for the function: (do not be too hard I have only been coding in Perl for the past 2 days!) Also I use Strict at the beginning of the program.

sub CleanFiles{
    my ($file, @lines) = @_;
 
    my @data_file = ();
#reset(@data_file);
    open(DATA, $dac03_location."/".$file) or die "Cannot open the file!";
 
#splice(@data_file);
 
    #Store the text in an array, easier to work with
    while(<DATA>){
        chomp;
        push(@data_file,$_);
    }
    close(DATA);
 
    #initialize a value to count where we are in the array in order to 
    #delete the lines we do not need
    my $i = 0;
    my $item;
    my $item2;
    foreach $item (@data_file){
        foreach $item2 (@lines){
            if ($item =~ /$item2/){
                splice(@data_file,$i,1);
            }
        }
        $i++
    }
 
#    foreach $item (@data_file){
#        print "$item\n";
#    }
 
    return @data_file;
}

Thank you for your help :-)

[Ganon11]

my @data_file = ();

This line should solve your problems - it has solved mine whenever this problem crept up. Are you sure you are still experiencing this issue?

[tuxy94]

my @data_file = ();

This line should solve your problems - it has solved mine whenever this problem crept up. Are you sure you are still experiencing this issue?

Yes I actually use that line @data_file = (); and I still have the problem, I am not sure why... It does work but the data in the array @data_file is not reset to 0 each time I call the function, so I end up with a lot of data I do not want.

Do you have any other suggestions?

Thank you

[KevinADC]

Once you do this:

@array = ();

any values the array had before will be gone. So the problem is being caused elsewhere in the program or you are confused about something.

[tuxy94]

Well here is the entire script that I am writing, but alas I am still having the problem and cannot figure out where it may be. Maybe you will know better.

Thanks a lot.

#!/usr/bin/perl
 
###################
#Packages required#
###################
 
use Strict;
use List::MoreUtils qw(uniq);
use Data::Dumper;
 
############
#Parameters#
############
 
#First we define the path to the file we use
#do not put any /
my $dac02_location = "/dac03_scripts";
my $dac03_location = "/dac03_scripts/etc";
 
#name of the groups
my @group = ('jai','smbuser','domadm');
#number of max user on the system
my $i = 8;
#name of additional machines that are in passwd but not in group
my @add_machines=('dacsrv01\$','dacwks01\$','dacwks02\$','dacwks03\$','dacwks04\$','dacwks05\$','daceufo201\$','dacluxe02\$','dacluxe03\$');
#special users to also update the password for
my @special_users=('root','nagios');
 
###########
#Functions#
###########
 
#To parse the data and store it in a hash
sub DataParsing{
    my ($file, @fields) = @_;
 
    my %data = ();
    my $item;
 
    open(DATA, $dac02_location."/".$file) or die "Cannot open the file!";
 
    while(<DATA>){
        chomp;
 
        foreach $item (@fields){
            if($_ =~ /$item/){
                $data{$item}=[split('[:,]',$_)];
                $data{$item.'_raw'} = $_;
            }
        }
    }
 
    close(DATA);
 
    return %data;
}
 
#Clean the file group and return an array with clean data to construct the new one
sub CleanFiles{
    my ($file, @lines) = @_;
 
    my @data_file = ();
 
    open(DATA, $dac03_location."/".$file) or die "Cannot open the file!";
 
    #Store the text in an array, easier to work with
    while(<DATA>){
        chomp;
        push(@data_file,$_);
    }
    close(DATA);
 
    #initialize a value to count where we are in the array in order to
    #delete the lines we do not need
    my $i = 0;
    my $item;
    my $item2;
    foreach $item (@data_file){
        foreach $item2 (@lines){
            if ($item =~ /$item2/){
                splice(@data_file,$i,1);
            }
        }
        $i++
    }
 
#    foreach $item (@data_file){
#        print "$item\n";
#    }
 
    return @data_file;
}
 
#function to generate the new config files
sub CreateConfig{
    my ($file,@data) = @_;
    my $item;
 
    $file = $file.".new";
 
    open(NFILE,">$file");
    foreach $item (@data){
        printf NFILE "$item\n";
    }
    close(NFILE);
 
    return $file;
}
 
###########
#Instances#
###########
 
#hash of the group with the group name as reference
my %group = DataParsing('group', @group);
#print "$group{jai}[2]\n";
 
#put the usernames in an array to get info out of passwd
my $item;
my @username = ();
foreach $item (@group){
    for ($a = $i+1; $a > 2; $a--){
        if($group{$item}[$a] ne ''){
            push(@username,$group{$item}[$a])
        }
    }
}
 
#array containing all of the user that need to be added on system
my @usernames = ();
@usernames=uniq(@username,@add_machines);
 
my @special_usernames = uniq(@usernames,@special_users);
#hash of the user in passwd with username as reference
my %passwd = DataParsing('passwd',@special_usernames);
 
#hash of the password in shadow with username as reference
my %shadow = DataParsing('shadow',@special_usernames);
 
########################################################
########################################################
 
my @group_clean_data = CleanFiles('group',@group);
my @passwd_clean_data = CleanFiles('passwd',@special_usernames);
 
print Dumper(@passwd_clean_data);

[KevinADC]

besides the incorrect spelling of "Strict"

use Strict;

that should be:

use strict;

I don't see anything.

[tuxy94]

I did all of the modification you guys suggested and still, I run into the same problem. I have also tried to change DATA to something else but still I do not know what to do.

Any other ideas?

Thanks again.