Yeah well, so I'm not using it directly, IO::Handle that is. Insert sheepish grin here[ ____ ]. In defense of self, this whole exercise arose from someone else's code—which same I reduced to a test case, so that we could look at the array reference problem. In real life, I don't mix approaches like that— no really I don't. Nope, not me, my evil twin (who fires from the hip enough to get hip burns) might, but no, not me!

hsm

p.s. thanks again...