Let me assure you, no offence taken. I was given this job as a co-op from Drexel University, and I didn't know a thing about perl, why they hired me is beyond me. In anycase, mainly through the help of monks like yourself, in a few short months I have gained a better understanding of perl. Every time some code is posted for me, I take it and break it up, and place a comment after each line, so I learn from the code rather than just copy paste it. However, I completely agree with you in that I would rather be given help towards my goal rather than the solution.