Nevermend. I think I get it - someone else posted that while(<>){} is the same as while($_=<>){} - it does an assignment to $_ and that's what does the damage.

Somehwere, I think I remember someone (Tom Christiansen, I think) saying to always localize $_ in subroutines. Now I know why.

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