slurping a file If I do this: open $FH, '<', $THE_FILE or die "$0: open problem"; my @ids = map substr($_, 0, 5), <$FH>; Does that file handle get closed after the slurp? Robert --  To unsubscribe, e-mail: beginners-unsubscribe@perl.org For additional commands, e-mail: beginners-help@perl.org http://learn.perl.org/