in reply to Ah, the old "Can't use string ("string") as a HASH ref"

what happens if you just print $new: 

print STDERR "\n SHAZAM!!!! $new \n";

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By any chance, does it equal "precinct"?

--Bob Niederman, http://bob-n.com

All code given here is UNTESTED unless otherwise stated.

In Section Seekers of Perl Wisdom