# Web form to Appent to textfile
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/web-form-to-appent-to-textfile/82576
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [September 19, 2001, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/web-form-to-appent-to-textfile/82576 "2001-09-19T13:35:32Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Galerion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Galerion)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2001, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/web-form-to-appent-to-textfile/82576/1 "2001-09-19T13:35:32Z")
I’ve got this cute little problem. My boss want’s me to fix a web form, that when filled in appends information to a textfile with fields delimited by some nice character.
I’ve figured out that cgi scripts is the way to go, and I have found one rather nice example on the net. But then…
What to do?
- How do I connect the cgi script to a HTML form?
- How do I make the cgi run? Do I have to compile it, or do I just post it as it is?
(I’m aware of that cgi scripts need certain permissions to be run)
Could anybody help me out?
Thanks.
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### Author:  [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2001, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/web-form-to-appent-to-textfile/82576/2 "2001-09-19T14:27:52Z")
take a look at this form. It is exactly what you’re looking for. i use it for sign ups on my site and it works beautifully. the sign up data gets appended to a text file with a delimiter character of my choice. then i can import this data into a database software and query it.
[http://worldwidemart.com/scripts/formmail.shtml](http://worldwidemart.com/scripts/formmail.shtml)
Scroll down to BFormMail, it has all the options you need.
A basic understanding of any programming language should be enough to edit the form cgi code to work on your site.
if you hit a wall, lemme know an’ i’ll help you further…
you have to edit the cgi script a bit and upload it to the cgi-bin folder of your hosting service. The faq on the page supplies all the info you would need. then upload the form, with a line that includes a link to the cgi script.
go thru that website and you’ll understand…
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### Author:  [@Galerion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Galerion)
#### Post date: [September 20, 2001, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/web-form-to-appent-to-textfile/82576/3 "2001-09-20T06:45:30Z")
Thnak you very much! I’ll take a look at it.