after you've closed the output file, do this:
  system('notepad',$absolute_path_to_report);

As long as you haven't altered your %PATH% variable, notepad.exe is in your path. The downside to putting an absolute pathname for notepad is that your script won't work if the user is using a different flavor of Windows or if they've installed to somewhere non-default for whichever flavor you originally code for.

- - arden.