Thanks for the info, i did try that, and i think i found where the problem sort of is.

This is a extract from a CGI program, so the web interface, reads a log file and parses the info back into html.
So when i use the following code.

#!/usr/bin/perl
my $get = "Starting";
open(FH, "/home/cuthbe/programs/perlweb/PCAMWebStatus/log/pd_zvkk.log"
+) || die ("Unable to open pd_zvkk log file : !$ \n");
printf ("My get = $get \n");
while(<FH>) {
  chomp();
  #next if ($_ !~ /$get/);
  if($_ =~ m/$get/) {
  printf ("String found: \"$_\" : \n");
  }

$ perl test.pl
My get = Starting
String found: "Fri Aug 26 05:56:01 BST 2005  INFO: PD/ZVKK Load: Start
+ing." :
(cuthbe@ferrari)-(10:27 AM Mon Nov 14)-(cgi-bin)
$
[download]

It works perfectly, now this is on the command line.
When i put this into the cgi code, and get it to read the log file."with replacing the log file for variable"

   open(FH, "$pd_zvkk") || die ("Unable to open pd_zvkk log file: $pd_
+zvkk : !$ \n");
   printf STDERR ("My get = $get \n");
   while(<FH>) {
     chomp();
     #next if ($_ !~ /$get/);
     if(m/$get/) {
     printf STDERR ("String found: \"$_\" : \n");
     }
   }
<code>
Then i get this in the apache error log.<br>
<code>
[Mon Nov 14 10:28:16 2005] [error] [client 10.142.204.242] My get = St
+arting
[Mon Nov 14 10:28:16 2005] [error] [client 10.142.204.242] String foun
+d: "Fri Aug 26 05:56:01 BST 2005  INFO: PD/ZVKK Load: Starting." :
[Mon Nov 14 10:28:16 2005] [error] [client 10.142.204.242] My get =
[Mon Nov 14 10:28:16 2005] [error] [client 10.142.204.242] String foun
+d: "Fri Aug 26 05:56:01 BST 2005  INFO: PD/ZVKK Load: Starting." :
[Mon Nov 14 10:28:16 2005] [error] [client 10.142.204.242] String foun
+d: "Fri Aug 26 05:56:01 BST 2005  INFO: PD/ZVKK Load: Removing old cl
+ientacc files." :
[Mon Nov 14 10:28:16 2005] [error] [client 10.142.204.242] String foun
+d: "Fri Aug 26 05:56:01 BST 2005  INFO: PD/ZVKK Load: Running the sto
+red proc." :
[Mon Nov 14 10:28:16 2005] [error] [client 10.142.204.242] String foun
+d: "" :
[Mon Nov 14 10:28:16 2005] [error] [client 10.142.204.242] String foun
+d: "PL/SQL procedure successfully completed." :
[Mon Nov 14 10:28:16 2005] [error] [client 10.142.204.242] String foun
+d: "" :
[Mon Nov 14 10:28:16 2005] [error] [client 10.142.204.242] String foun
+d: "could not open /dev/kbd to get keyboard type US keyboard assumed"
+ :
[download]

So it seems like when running in a CGI env it reads and prints the whole log file, very strange.