note nikosv When using Win32::COM I subsequently use the OS COM facilities, hence I bypass any Wide APIs, call the <i>Scripting.FileSystemObject</i> and access the filesystem in UTF: <code> Win32::OLE->Option(CP => Win32::OLE::CP_UTF8); $obj = Win32::OLE->new('Scripting.FileSystemObject'); </code> and manipulate its methods, for example : <code> $folder = $obj->GetFolder("."); $collection= $folder->{Files}; </code> If you want to keep your sanity do not start looking into the wide API's ! :) 935347 936221