Your right let me clarify the problem. When I run the script it runs through it's entirity and the invoicedetail.txt is empty. I set it to print $s1 and $s2 to the screen and I get nothing. I am pretty sure the problem is exactly what benn stated....hadn't thought about that part of it. I do normally use arrays but when things break I take it to down to the simplest manner of expression as possible (even if it does make it look ugly) for the simple reason that when i pull elements from arrays I have a VERY nasty habbit of forgetting they start with 0 not 1....which completely messes me up...still trying to burn that one into my brain. Thanks for your help =).