in reply to "unique" filename?

The module File::MkTemp seems to be what you want:

use File::MkTemp; $dir = '.'; # directory to create file in $string = mktemp('tempXXXXXX',$dir); open(F,$string);

Will return a unique file name, you can also have it return a unique file handle so that there is no chance of opening an identical file in two instances of your script:

use File::MkTemp; $dir = '.'; # directory to create file in $fh = mkstemp('tempXXXXXX',$dir); print $fh "stuff"; $fh->close;

You can add more 'X's, but you need at least six.