note ignatz I must confess that I would much prefer a nested if-else block over something like <tt>$ref = [$ref] unless ref $ref eq 'ARRAY';</tt> I don't see much point in jumping through hoops to avoid nesting. Maybe it's just the novice in me talking. <p> Yes, there are times when there are much more elegant solutions then nested if-elses, but shouldn't the goal be simplicity over a blanket condemnation? I guess I'm just not seeing the why in "Why I Hate Nested If-Else blocks." <p> My personal approach is to try to keep any nested blocks deep in the guts of my code. If I see to much of it, that sends out an alarm that I may need to abstract out things a bit more. 136097 136097