each task stores results, and tasks are run in groups called jobs. the perl utility i'm modifying:

1. takes a job number,
2. creates a Task List from all tasks in the job,
3. reads a xml file that specifies which order tasks are to be read (<Task Name='A' Version='1.1'/>),
4. searches the Task List for each task/version in the xml file,
5. gets the results and appends them to a report file.

I recently had to create jobs running older tasks. Instead of editing the xml file everytime I deviate to other versions, I want to leave the version attribute blank, and have the utility just find the task regardless of version; i only put one version of a task in each job, hence the empty version number.

There's likely a better way to do this, but I'm new to perl and modifying a personal copy of a complicated utility someone else in the company wrote.