note mandog <p> I know you are using Perl 5.6.1 but if you were using Perl 5.8...</p> <code> perldoc -f open #(snip) File handles can be opened to "in memory" files held in Perl scalars via: open($fh, '>', \$variable) or die "$!"; Though if you try to re-open "STDOUT" or "STDERR" as an "in memory" file, you have to close it first: close STDOUT; open STDOUT, '>', \$variable or die "Can't open STDOUT: $!"; </code> <BR><BR><A HREF=mailto:dan@ltc.org>email: mandog</A> 291299 291299