note ww <blockquote>"but it's only about converting undef"</blockquote> Lest [LanX|you] or anyone else read that as generally true, I repeat, for emphasis re <c>warnings</c> (or for brevity here, <c>-w</c>) and re 'consistent': <c>perl -we "$x="LanX"; print ($x * 3);" Argument "LanX" isn't numeric in multiplication (*) at -e line 1. 0 perl -we "$x="LanX"; print ($x % 3);" Argument "LanX" isn't numeric in modulus (%) at -e line 1. 0 perl -we "$x="LanX"; print (3^$x);" Argument "LanX" isn't numeric in bitwise xor (^) at -e line 1. 3 perl -we "$x="LanX"; print (3**$x);" Argument "LanX" isn't numeric in exponentiation (**) at -e line 1. 1</c> but <c>perl -we "$x='7LanX'; print (3^$x);" Argument "7LanX" isn't numeric in bitwise xor (^) at -e line 1. 4 perl -we "$x='7LanX'; print ($x*3);" Argument "7LanX" isn't numeric in multiplication (*) at -e line 1. 21 perl -we "$x='7LanX'; print (3**$x);" Argument "7LanX" isn't numeric in exponentiation (**) at -e line 1. 2187</c> and where it's useful -- using a string as a number because it's being used in an operation which is arithmetic: <c>perl -we "$x=\"5\"; print ($x*3);" # 2 15 perl -we "$x='5'; print ($x*3);" 15</c> 2   Interesting (or not enough coffee yet?): doze balked at doublequotes without escapes here, but passed 'em cheerfully above. WTF? 852379 852448