I am not sure about all C compilers. I got above behavior with "gcc on FC6 & Turbo C on Windows XP". Also for Perl I tested with "Active Perl On Windows XP & Perl on FC6". I was NOT trying to say Perl & C will behave alike, but I was trying to say that this IS there with most of the implementation of C (gcc on FC6 and turbo C on Windows XP) & Perl (Active Perl On Win XP and perl on FC6). SORRY if misleading.