I don't think so. Listen, I am amazed to look over the comments and NOT see remarks from sysadmins. So, I will let a yell out to all the perl monks on this site and say that I use Perl for mostly system related scripts dealing with automating string replacement and text file manipulation (conf files and such). I still use a lot of shell scripting but in general I find that a great deal of tasks needed for maintaining Unix systems revolve around keeping track and editing various configuration files. Perl is the bomb for manipulating files and their contents. I also use it user prompt scripts especially when using password validation against an encrypted string. In addition command line scripts for producing report input based on database information is quickly done when using the DBI mod. If I need something beyond the confines of stringing together Unix commands, I use Perl. And, it seems from my experience it is what most system admins use when faced with the same situation.