hahahaha, <--- that's real laughter, not nervous, I look like a slump and need to play it off laughter. ;-) OK, so, I hardly ever use any of the types of syntax you do. I'm finding this a lot. I guess it's because I learned from the first edition books, and never have learned much about new ways, for instance,

 open(IN, $file) || die $!
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is the only way I know how to open a file, and have never bothered using a different method, just as I have never used

next if
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and I've always been taught that nice clean code, always has all variables declared before hand, never in the middle of the program. So, basically, my "nastiness" of the code you gave me :p, was to figure out what you were doing, where I didn't understand. I have sort of been thrown into the big leagues whether I belong there or not, so I guess I better pick up a bat...

So, if I may, please help me understand why you're using the next if, instead of regular if's nested as I did, why nesting if statements is a bad idea, and what do you mean about slurping up files? I know I'm probably going to lose a million XP and get slammed for these questions, but oh well, I tried to avoid it and GrandFather threw me out in the open, so I guess I might as well ask now. ;-)