edit: found the answer I was looking for -
http://www.perlmonks.org/index.pl?node_id=422895

don't know, what do the &'s do? all the example code I can find uses them, so I thought it was the proper function call...

the @fileStat was actually remnants of a previous attempt at figuring out how to get the date extracted that I had failed to rever to $s when I went back... explained why it was blowing up... I have the use File::stat; at the very top of the code right after the #!/usr/bin/perl... my problem is that with the code as it is right now:

sub farmInput {
  my($corp, $finalPath) = ($_[0], $_[1]);
  my $path = "/usr/local/farm/*/*/$finalPath/*$corp*";
  my @farms = glob($path); 
  foreach my $farm (@farms) {
    my $s = stat($farm);
     printf "%s: Age [%s], size [%d]\n", $farm, ParseDateString("epoch
+ $s->mtime()"), $s->size();
#    printf "%s: Age [%s], size [%d]\n", $farm, $s->mtime(), $s->size(
+);
  } # end of foreach statement
} # end farmInput
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it doesn't display anything in between the after date, but when I use the other line (the one commented out in this code) it gives me the seconds since epoch...

sooo... when I use this:

     printf "%s: Age [%s], size [%d]\n", $farm, ParseDateString("epoch
+ $s->mtime()"), $s->size();
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I get this:

/usr/local/farm/vrsn/verisignx/input/75192.hosoft.01162005.A.bctl.e.le
+t.dat.Z: Age [], size [2069]
/usr/local/farm/vrsn/verisignx/input/75192.hosoft.01162005.A.bills.let
+.dat.Z: Age [], size [266666425]
/usr/local/farm/vrsn/verisignx/input/75192.hosoft.01162005.A.billvldt.
+let.dat.Z: Age [], size [72]
/usr/local/farm/vrsn/verisignx/input/75192.hosoft.01162005.A.bmsg.e.le
+t.dat.Z: Age [], size [2428]
/usr/local/farm/vrsn/verisignx/input/75192.hosoft.01162005.A.brels.let
+.dat.Z: Age [], size [8]
/usr/local/farm/vrsn/verisignx/input/75192.hosoft.01162005.A.callfile.
+call.dat.Z: Age [], size [126369639]
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and then when I use this:

    printf "%s: Age [%s], size [%d]\n", $farm, $s->mtime(), $s->size()
+;
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I get this

/usr/local/farm/vrsn/verisignx/input/75192.hosoft.01162005.A.bctl.e.le
+t.dat.Z: Age [1106013532], size [2069]
/usr/local/farm/vrsn/verisignx/input/75192.hosoft.01162005.A.bills.let
+.dat.Z: Age [1106018445], size [266666425]
/usr/local/farm/vrsn/verisignx/input/75192.hosoft.01162005.A.billvldt.
+let.dat.Z: Age [1106018446], size [72]
/usr/local/farm/vrsn/verisignx/input/75192.hosoft.01162005.A.bmsg.e.le
+t.dat.Z: Age [1106013532], size [2428]
/usr/local/farm/vrsn/verisignx/input/75192.hosoft.01162005.A.brels.let
+.dat.Z: Age [1106013532], size [8]
/usr/local/farm/vrsn/verisignx/input/75192.hosoft.01162005.A.callfile.
+call.dat.Z: Age [1106020765], size [126369639]
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Again, here is the entire program:

#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use File::stat;
use Date::Manip;

# This is a program that is intended to allow FEP operators
# a tool that will facilitate in monitoring incoming transmissions
# and preprocessor logs.


#------------------- Define Subroutines ------------------#
#
#
# Main is a subroutine simply written for flow control


sub Main {
  my $corp = $_[0];
  print "Input:\n";
  farmInput($corp,'input');


} # end Main

# farmInput does a wildcard search of all /usr/local/farm/*/*/input fo
+lders 
# looking for the <STDIN> corp number and printing those files to scre
+en.

sub farmInput {
  my($corp, $finalPath) = ($_[0], $_[1]);
  my $path = "/usr/local/farm/*/*/$finalPath/*$corp*";
  my @farms = glob($path); 
  foreach my $farm (@farms) {
    my $s = stat($farm);
     printf "%s: Age [%s], size [%d]\n", $farm, ParseDateString("epoch
+ $s->mtime()"), $s->size();
#    printf "%s: Age [%s], size [%d]\n", $farm, $s->mtime(), $s->size(
+);
  } # end of foreach statement
} # end farmInput



#------------------- End Subroutines ---------------------#

print "What corp are you looking for? " ;
chomp(my $whatWeWant = <STDIN>);
Main($whatWeWant);
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