As a beginner, I probably do treat programming as alchemy... especially when something isn't working, I try everything I can think of.

IMO, that's a very wrong thing to do. It won't teach you *anything*. If code works, or if you think it works just because it happens to produce the right output on a few test cases, it's just luck. It won't give you much insight.

Yes, I forgot to mention... I tried to print out spec_vars and it was empty after the second call to the page (which, of course, explains why variables later on in that second call are empty).

Well, that's a clear indication that your program isn't getting the data it's expecting. Not setting $|, calling the sub at a different time or cleaning the litter box aren't going to fix that.

Abigail

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