does this open an actual file?
what I was trying to do was open DATA (after __END__) to ensure that the actual script wasn't already being run.
I was trying to get Merlyn's snippet from the node I mentioned above to work for me, it does work apparently, but not on windows...
Any advise appreciated
Jonathan
It does open an actual file. I know what you are trying to do. I'm only suggesting it as a work-around because opening DATA isn't doing the job on win32. As I showed before, using a real sentinel file does prevent additional instances of the script from running. merlyn suggested opening DATA because the code is simpler that way.