use subs 'open'; sub open { print @_ . " parameters: @_\n"; my $filehandle = shift; CORE::open($filehandle,@_[0..$#_]); } sub open2 { print @_ . " parameters: @_\n"; CORE::open(@_[0..$#_]); } my $result; print "Testing open...\n"; print open(TEST),$/; print open(TEST, "test.txt"),$/; print open(TEST, "