note CharlesClarkson You misunderstand. I was not trying to pass arguments after the dispatch table was defined. I was trying to pass arguments predefined in the dispatch table. In the example I gave <code>$fruit</code> was the argument. If I use <code>\&add_entry( $fruit )</code>, perl will run <code>add_entry( $fruit )</code> immediately and return a reference to it's return. But <code>$fruit</code> might change before <code>add_entry</code> is dispatched or between dispatched calls. The point was to define the arguments in the table not afterward. The problem was that this solution is skipped in the dipatch table examples I found online and in books. Some examples intimated that passing arguments from the table was difficult. I found the answer so easy, I thought I had missed something. HTH, Charles K. Clarkson Clarkson Energy Homes, Inc. 162577 162591