Hmmm... just checked count in perldoc... what I was trying to do was to compare the $i with length of the array... I could have sworn count() was the function.

I would write acessors, but I am too lazy (and this search function appears in many objects.. not only one... thats part of the reason I figured an... inline... function (or macro) would work)

The iterator would appear to be something I wanted to ask about in a future post. What would I have to extend (via @ISA) to make use of it?

Though like I said, I was already considering using a Tied hash... thanks for pointing me to the first step.