Hi all, well I have the problem solved. The script uptime.pl is appended below in it entirety. The problem lies with the @db array (populated by 'more-ing' it). From this array I want $db$i+16 and $db$i+17. From the command line, the program works and I get what I want. But when uptime.pl is accessed from a CGI script, $db$i+16 and $db$i+17 are returning different data and so the script sets @dataset values to '0'. If I change the @db indicies to $db$i+18 and $db$i+19, then I get what I want. Looks like through CGI, I get some extra lines added to the more'd file. Anyway, to avoid this, I have incorporated uptime.pl into the main CGI script (don't know why I didn't do that in the first place!). Thank you all for your help. Regards, Stacy.

#!/usr/local/bin/perl
use Date::Calc qw(Delta_DHMS);

@receivers = qw(70CM
                50CM
                H-OH
                MULTIBEAM
                GALILEO
                MULTIBAND
                METHANOL
                K-BAND);

$dbfile   = 'rxdb.dat';

#Get last modify time of DB file rxdb.dat

$mtime = (stat("$dbfile"))[9];
($fsec,$fmin,$fhour,$fmday,$fmonth,$fyear) = 
 localtime($mtime);

#Get current time

($nsec,$nmin,$nhour,$nmday,$nmonth,$nyear) = 
 (localtime(time))[0..5];

#Get current time

($nsec,$nmin,$nhour,$nmday,$nmonth,$nyear) 
 = (localtime(time))[0..5];

#Open DB and see if receivers are present and available

foreach $package (@receivers) {
  
  open(DB, "$dbfile") or die "Can't open $dbfile!: $!";
  
  $i = 0;
  while ($line = <DB>) {
    if ($line =~ m/package(\s+)= $package/i) { last }
    $i++;
  }
  
  close(DB);
  
  #$i lists the 'package =' line of the receiver we
  #want. To determine if it is present and available,
  #we require 'yes' to be found on lines $i+18 and
  #$i+19
  
  @db = `more $dbfile`;
  
  if ($db[$i+18] =~ m/yes/ && $db[$i+19] =~ m/yes/) {
    
 #Selected receiver is present & available.
 #Calculate difference between file date and current date.
    
 ($days, $hours) = 
  Delta_DHMS(
  $fyear+1900, $fmonth+1, $fmday, $fhour, $fmin, $fsec, 
   $nyear+1900, $nmonth+1, $nmday, $nhour, $nmin, $nsec);
    
    $total = sprintf "%3.0f", ($days*24)+$hours;
  } else {
    $total = 0;
  }
  
  print "$package $total\n";
  
}
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