note andreychek I have really come to enjoy the ideas and syntax offered by the <a href="http://www.officevision.com/pub/p5ee/software/htdocs/P5EEx/Blue/perlstyle.html">P5EE Style Guide</a>.<br><br> In the guide, they offer this for plural vs singular variable naming conventions: <code> --- Arrays and hashes should be plural nouns, whether as regular arrays and hashes or array and hash references. Do not name references with ``ref'' or the data type in the name. @stories = (1, 2, 3); # right $comment_ref = [4, 5, 6]; # wrong $comments = [4, 5, 6]; # right $comment = $comments->[0]; # right --- </code> By consistantly using a system like this throughout your programs, there won't have to be question about whether a scalar contains something like a string, or if it's a reference to an array or hash. As the guide suggests, references would be named in a plural fashion.<br><br> FWIW, I'm now using (or at least attempting to) this guide for all of my programming habits :-) Have fun,<br> -Eric 152710 152710