I have an image uploader which I'm using (cgi) to create instant thumbnails of my images. I can get most static GIF files and jpg/jpeg and bmp files to work properly. The problems come in when 1) the filename contains something not letters or numbers like a hypen - and 2) animated gifs don't produce thumbnails.

There are probably more characters other than the hyphen that will prevent thumbnailing, so there might be a problem with my regex or something. Can you take a look at the snippet below and see how I can correct it to allow any legit filename?

I know it's crazy to think an animated gif will produce a thumbnail, but is it possible in any way to capture the first frame as a thumbnail or are animations totally out of the picture here?

$localfile = $filename;
$localfile =~ m/(.*)\.(.*)/;
$newfilename = "generated_thumbs/$1.png";
$x = $image->Write($newfilename);
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janitored by ybiC: Retitle from "few Image::Magick questions" for searchability