DBM problem

[frechettes]

Each time I do a delete from a dbm, the size of the file doesn't change. This is very troublesome. I can write keys/vals to and from the script via tied hash no problem. It's after a delete of the keys that the file size is not reduced accordingly. When I do a cat on the file, I verify in fact there are no keys/vals after the delete (this is good.) However, what is being left behind?? What's in the file? Is it a permissions issue? Any help would be greatly appreciated to at least point me in the right direction.