Thanks tedv - exactly what I was hoping for.   8^)

Since the SNMP collection code is in the same script, would it make sense to put the collection data into an array instead of the intermediate file, and read array elements into your code?   Would save having to open+close+unlink file, but are there drawbacks ?
    cheers,
    Don
    striving for Perl Adept

Update: and thanks to mdillon for esplaining turnstep's /o syntax above.   More food for thought.   But my brain is full.   {g}