# - ask the user whether or not they would like to align their sequences Locally or Globally
    print $username . ", would like to align your protein sequences globally or locally? (enter either 'g' or 'l') ";
    $alignment_type = <STDIN>;
    # - debug
    print "\n", $alignment_type, "\n";
    # - debug

    while( ($alignment_type ne 'g') or ($alignment_type ne 'l') ){
    
        print $username . ", your selection was incomprehensible (enter either 'globally' or 'locally'): ";
        $alignment_type = <STDIN>;
    }
    print "\n";