I can't seem to reproduce to problem except when I use an old script that I already deleted. :( Oh well, it's still going to piss me off, but whenever I try to simulate it, it works like a charm. I wonder if it had something to do with the shell I was using? I know I used /bin/bash for the test, but I might have used /bin/sh for the old one. Regardless, if I run into this problem again, I will document it well and repost. Thanks for all your help!