c:\@Work\Perl\monks>perl -wMstrict -le "my $username = 'phil'; my $security = 'phil'; my $type = 'foo'; ;; if (($username eq qq{$security}) && ($type ne 'Check In' || $type ne 'Check Out')) { print qq{\$username and \$security are '$username'}; print qq{\$type is '$type'}; } " $username and $security are 'phil' $type is 'foo'