help help !!

Hi
I have a library db which uses it own s/w Libsys which stores data in a
flat file.Now I am thinking of porting the same to Postgres.I have couple
of problems .As the s/w is proprietry .I don't how the data is stored .
in fact the flat file shows a big chunk of ASCII & control characters.
So the task of interpreting the flat file is difficult.The s/w runs on
Win 3.1(it is a 16bit app).
Can anyone tell me how do I attack the Problem.
Some time back I had posted a query but did'nt get a reply for it
it is regarding Passing query through cgi.I wanted some Docs on
how to embed Sql query inside Perl.
Is there a way I can do input formatting in sql .
My problem is this
I have my name Col entered as First char Caps and if the user types in any otherformat it Bombs here is an Ex:

phone=> select * from phonebook where name = 'yogesh';
name|phone_nr|desig
----+--------+-----
(0 rows)

phone=> select * from phonebook where name = 'Yogesh';
name |phone_nr|desig
------+--------+-----
Yogesh| 359|Tra

Thanx in advance
yogesh