if you binmode INFILE; after you open it then you can substitute out the dodgy chars before you insert to the DB. I had the same problem with a corrupt logfile line on a win32 system which had a ^Z in it. perl just jumped straight out of the while loop without so much as a by-your-leave!

Hope this helps

   larryk                                          
perl -le "s,,reverse killer,e,y,rifle,lycra,,print"
Will code for food - looking for work - London - CV