1. I open an existing file. Result: OK
2. I try to open or test the existance of a non-existing file with "-e"
3. I open an existing file. Result: ERROR
I tried it with Perl v5.003_07 for Win32 Build 316, Perl v5.004_02 Win32 and 5.005_03 built for MSWin32-x86-object build 518. I have BMC Patrol on this Win2k machine, and these Perls comes with BMC Patrol. It is not possible at this moment to upgrade Perl on this machine.
The test program: 
open TT1, "<test.out";
if ($! == 0) {
    print "1. [OK]\n";
    @x = <TT1>;
    close TT1;
} else {
    print "[ERROR]\n";
}

if (-e "tt1") {
    open TT2, "<tt1";
    if ($! == 0) {
        print "2. [OK]\n";
        close TT2;
    } else {
        print "2. [ERROR]\n";
    }
}

open TT1, "<test.out";
if ($! == 0) {
    print "3. [OK]\n";
    @x = <TT1>;
    close TT1;
} else {
    print "3. [ERROR]\n";
}

[download]
test.out is an existing file, tt1 is not. The output is: 
1. [OK]
3. [ERROR]

[download]
If I comment out the middle part, the if (-e "tt1") { ... and just simply open & read & close the file twice, I get: 
1. [OK]
2. [OK]

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This is more, than annoying and more than weird. Could you please suggest any workarounds?

In reply to unable to open existing file after trying to open a non-existing one by monk_of_gaia

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