note John M. Dlugosz How about opening it in binary mode? I would historically use a <code>binmode</code> after opening, but in 5.8 I should be able to use <code>:raw</code> or something like that. When I tried once, I spent a few minutes trying to make it work, and went back to the old way. What's the polished form of the idiom that uses the new syntax for binary files?<P> 287647 287686