Wow! graff, that's some help, if you just 'whipped up' that script in response to my problem...

Happily, it'll be here at PM for everyone else to find too... i'm not sure it's applicable in this exact problem (though it'll be useful to me in another area... thanks! i hadn't even asked that question yet!), as i need the code to NOT depend on the local find command. I'd really prefer this script to be portable across Solaris and Linux systems, with differing find commands.

i'll be "flattering" your timing script too, optomizing this thing with whichever technique seems best.