I agree with graff! Even the zero byte file can be take care of. You can first check for "exists" on the file. If it exists you will use >> otherwise you can open using >. You can also set a flag if you end up creating a new file.

In the next check for the link after open in graff's code you can not only die on link but check for it and then cleanup if your flag was set to "create" and not append!

open - to my knowledge does not execute anything so I guess that shouldn't cause concerns. I am not sure whether i am missing something very critical here!

I agree, you certainly need to think through security issues before you allow other people to run your script.

-SK