note tilly Random advice. Unless you really need them, do <b>not</b> use prototypes.<p> As threads like [id://194637] and [id://124339] point out, they don't do what you want them to, and do what you don't. Unfortunately the Tom Christiansen article that everyone points to has been removed from www.perl.com (why I do not know). However you can still find it at [http://library.n0i.net/programming/perl/articles/fm_prototypes/|FMTYEWTK about Prototypes].<p> <b>Update</b> I'd only half-written this when I hit submit. I finished off the dangling sentences. 398587 398587