Man, my newbie-dom really manifested itself in the form of not being able to see the way you used operators as short hand. I went through my sources though and to put it in newbie terms: This... 
'' ne $items[0]
    ? $buffer = $items[0]
    : $items[0] = $buffer;

[download]
...is the same as this... 
if ('' ne $items[0]) {
    $buffer = $items[0]
} else {
    $items[0] = $buffer
}

[download]
right? I think this is going to work out nicely. Thank you all so much for the help. --- you can't be what you were...so you better start being just what you are....

In reply to Re: Re: Filling In "The Gaps" in an Array by bivouac
in thread Filling In "The Gaps" in an Array by bivouac

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