note jynx <br> Brothers smack me down if i'm wrong, but recently i used something similar to this code to do what you're describing:<code> #!/usr/bin/perl -w use strict; package foo; { my $self = { foo => bar }; sub new { return bless $self, shift; } sub get_obj { return UNIVERSAL::isa($self, 'foo') # or not as cool: #return ref($self) eq 'foo' ? $self : goto &new; } } </code> This not only makes new instances when you want them, it also can pass on old instances to any class that requires it and uses the 'get_obj' method.<p> Whether this is Good Coding(tm) or not, i can't say, but it's worked for me (and i might change what i have, depending on how monks respond to this :)<p> jynx<p> <b>Update</b>: Added the UNIVERSAL::isa call and commented out the ref($self) call due to [podmaster]'s suggestion. Could someone please elaborate on why UNIVERSAL::isa is better?<p> <b>Update2</b>: Whoops. Put the args for UNIVERSAL::isa in wrong order. Hmm, i tested it before i posted and it seemed to work fine the other way as well. Tested again and apparently i was smoking crack. Mental note: RTFM first next time! ;-)<p> 198354 198354