Thanks for the explanation. I've learned something new about Perl - which isn't too difficult for me!

I'm just wondering why it's set up this way? Is there an overall principle I can apply to lists, arrays, scalars, hashes, etc., that will help me understand behavior like this?

Or perhaps I should go back and finish reading "Learning Perl" instead of picking up little bits here and there as I need them. :-\

Chumley