Using the subroutine get_login_env that was recommended to me in an earlier post I'm now having qualified success with my script. I think I understand the subsequent problem that I'm having and I hope that one of the Monastery's boffins can confirm my suspicion. My code has the following -

#!/usr/bin/perl -w
#
use strict ;
#
sub get_login_env {
  local %ENV;
  my $shell = shift || (getpwuid($<))[8];
  my $env = `echo env | perl -e 'exec {"$shell"} -sh'`;
  if (wantarray) {
     my @pieces = ($env =~ m/^(.*?)=((?:[^\n\\]|\\.|\\\n)*)/gm);
    s/\\(.)/$1/g foreach @pieces;
    return @pieces;
  }
  else {
    return $env;
  }
}
#
###############################################################
#                  Set up variables                           #
###############################################################
#
my $ftpfile  = 'mailtest.pl' ;
my $out_file = 'ronniesrubbish' ;
my $result   = 0 ;
my $key      = undef ;
my $value    = undef ;
#
print "\n\t\t<***** xxrcenv Starts *****>\n" ;
#
%ENV = (%ENV, get_login_env());
#
while (($key, $value) = each (%ENV)) {
   print "\n\tKey :: $key" ;
   print "\n\tValue :: $value" ;
}
#
print "\n" ;
#
use lib '/home/interface/sectran/lib' ;
#use lib "$ENV{SECTRAN_DIR}/lib" ;
foreach (@INC) {
   print "\t$_\n" ;
}
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This now works but originally the use lib was worded differently - use lib "$ENV{SECTRAN_DIR}/lib" ; This generated a compilation time error. Is this because the use lib is parsed at compile time and the SECTRAN_DIR variable is created at run time and therefore doesn't exist when the use lib is evaluated? Just trying to clear this up in my head. Cheers, Ronnie