sub read_fields {
my($offset1, $offset2, $offset3, $offset4, $this_offset, $result, $n, $dbase, $data, @field_name, @name_length, $num_fields, $m, $check, $check2, $primary_key, $action, @passed_array);
($offset1, $offset2, $result, $dbase, $num_fields, $m, $action, $primary_key, @passed_array) = @_;
@field_name = splice(@passed_array, 0, 6); @name_length = splice(@passed_array, 0);
# $action is always 1 in the cases where things go wrong.
unless ($action == 1) {
$field_name[0] = $field_name[5];
$name_length[0] = $name_length[5];
}
for ($n = 0; $n < $num_fields; $n++)
{
$field_name[$n + 6] = "</" . substr($field_name[$n], 1);
$offset3 = index($$dbase, $field_name[$n], $offset1) + $name_length[$n];
$offset4 = index($$dbase, $field_name[$n + 6], $offset3) - 1;
unless ($n != 4) {$this_offset = $offset3}
@$result[$n] = substr($$dbase, $offset3, $offset4 - $offset3 + 1);
}
return $this_offset;
 
}

<record>
<links>#either some text or just spaces</links>
<post_id>000000048</post_id>
<subject>#some text</subject>
<author>#some text</author>
<data+time>#some text</date+time>
<content>#some text</content>
</record>