But only if you want to risk data corruption

That is the classic perl flock boo-boo. You should never "unlock", just close the file, and the lock will go away.

Also, do you really need a lock subroutine?

I didn't respond to this the other day in hopes that somebody else would, and much to my suprise, nobody paid attention.

MJD says you can't just make shit up and expect the computer to know what you mean, retardo! ** The Third rule of perl club is a statement of fact: pod is sexy.