If by "same" you mean it's the same $item it was during the life of the call to shoppingList(), even though it lives in a different scratchpad from that of all other calls to shoppingList(), then I understand what you meant. And you certainly understand what I meant. (is chromatic here the same as chromatic on slashdot? If so, I probably shouldn't argue at all.)

--Bob Niederman, http://bob-n.com