yes yes the main problem I have dealt with is "chomp". This command works on ActivePerl but it doesn't work when I ran it under UNIX. Here's my command line: chomp $current; The following is the error msg I have epxerienced when I run it under Unix: syntax error in file readmail.pl at line 185, next 2 tokens "chomp $current" /.*?boundary=/: nested *?+ in regexp at readmail.pl line 239. can anyone interpret it for me please? many thanks in advance.