I have been writing a Perl script that accepts input from a form on a web page and then creates files/folders in my file system based on that input. Let me state now that I had not yet reached the point where I was actually doing anything with the file system... I was only processing form input and error checking. So I made a small change to my code (added an if block that would check a string representing a file path against two regexs and then add a leading / to the beginning of the string or remove trailing /'s from the end of the string), ran the script again, and got a 500 error... I checked my error logs and Apache gave me this line: 
[Thu Oct 30 16:09:49 2003] [error] (8)Exec format error: exec of /opt/
+www/conf/dot/cgi-bin/create_volume.pl failed

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So then I opened my source code with vi and it came up looking completely unlike Perl. Below is a small sample from the beginning. Does this look like anything to anybody? Is there some way to get my source code out of this? I was able to restore a backup from yesterday, but still, that is a day's work wasted... Most of all, I would really like to know what the heck could have happened. I am running Perl v5.6.1 on SunOS 5.8 with Apache v.1.3.26. 
L#^S/\364\363\313\211\342\357\373-\336\250o\263&^O\277\212\271\233^E\3
+12\277-\305)^S\206\204S\327^]\303^Y\201\236\227\353\264\372D\271\341\
+317B\353\3122\37
6@\215\224\332PI1I\326Du\356\307^T;\300a\237[J^U\322L^R\247M\232f\320^
+P\370b^C*/^U\361^S\224\237\221K\224\223g\377\210Ecb\210\206B\215\212\
+2024\313S\256\20
6\231\247\246^^^]^]^O\234^F^S@^W^O\353t\302\300\345\305xA\352H^T'm^O\3
+77^_\222\235\321\335&\355\201 r\325\355as\257\215KC\271z\250J^E/L\217
+\262\322EH\215\3
76h^G\207=.^QXX\2361n\225\331]f\204f8\272#^P$\373\212^R^K^Z^Q\230;\260
+9^Uxg3s
^H\243\334\262^O\237Py\371\367=\222\221\272\221\341\220\235\344K<\202:
+\330A\225\305k\367c\265?\244\317\216\213^S^YT\252\350\222\266\202WR\3
+32,\321^_\234\25
5\231\326^\6b^YA\236?7X^\m\242^]m\204\217\207\325\333O\343\243^G\210\2
+07^E\225\246\240\352\340\322s~Ir{K\370^Lj9\346\272\326%T\276%^AX=\234
+\327B\260^T\273\
202\246\221\317N\341*.\263^Ae\24540\202\241pq4m\213\254jQ`\272\325\323
+\253\333\260\323\252Wj\272^^\307`\275\335\372\212^CYe\357\256ikt\351q
+\257\215\331\353
\2757\273C\370\336\325*\226^F\325\320\270Z\266\357}|\235w)\367\333\360
+G\366b;!^]E\306_S{5\254$\367\206\261\314\276YSW\262~\242u\232\2602^Y\
+336\276D\264\230
\325^^Bf\304^^V"\257\222\211\370\272\250\233\324^F\255\314\324^U3\264\
+204\3222\207\310w\374\202^\245\306}\241$?\223=^N^?\346^N\335^Q)_\361^
+Q^L^C\^A\345\270
\267\233\316\255.a\211\376&,\3060\264\304ll\317\371q^H\310n\327(HE\373
+\242\233B\237\345\205^T^\370\326\264\223\320\305\202}\223\355D*^B\262
+f\212]=p;\g\2616
z^X\353g\261_9e^W\332"\247\352\326\314\337\273i\273\233\271\203\302\26
+6\215/^N\374\311w\307[z~M^R\314\342\252\364\365\243G\3230x^O\305%W\32
+7\\325\263^G^UD\
375^\\367\223\356^Q\243^B\247^P\365\267\361i\324^N3"\225\372+\244\345e
+yW^A\214\216a\255\206\224\222\\233Z,x\226q\255E\260r^]\351\215\253>zk
+\326\305\360#4\3
30\354\240\200\373^Q\372\370\204y|\307\260\257#\255q^N^^=^ZY\246\250^X
+_\271G^T(^D<^B*\375\374e0\212hi^U^]?\20410k.^E\377\243\232^T\322\256\
+266\357\356#\354
'^Of+^^K)\262\344[9\235\202\355TK^?^R"0m\203\270\257\233%~\322|\326\37
+3*\335\232Vf^N^H\351\315gv^Y^G^PD^_$^O\255^[\\251\371K\273\313^T\270'
+\200Q\222'\240\3
35\240^B^K\362\232\343V\342\226V\332^U\330\307^V^U}^T\270\306\2715\246
+\322\2654\366g\250 y\215\254\2273zF\304\366#\303\205\240U^_m\222%fD|\
+307\325^Q*\2755\
320^G\3168\333t\356G\227\235\325$o^S\230\220\205\316N:\253^Pg\321\247\
+215\303^\223\227\324\220"a\376\272\226#
\373\342

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In reply to Ran my script, got a 500, and now the code is encoded??? by EXSPLRN

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