Thanx everyone! This is exactly what I was looking for. I was thinking ( for no good reason ) that the =~ operator would change the $f variable and it wouldn't stay intact for use later and that's why I didn't try it.

I knew it was something on my end.

Oh, and if you have PERL books, then I recommend getting rid of them and buying Perl books instead :)

--I just realized that you're correct, I've always thought that is was all caps and never paid attention. :)

thanx again,
L8on