You should be using syntax like: if ( $a == 20 ) { print ... } When you say: if ( $a = 20 ) { ... } you are actually assigning the value 20 to $a. Which was successful, hence the if statement is evalutated to 'true'. Regards, Joshua Colson Systems Administrator Giant Industries, Inc. P (480) 585-8714 F (480) 502-6641
-----Original Message----- From: Michael J Alexander [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Tuesday, November 26, 2002 9:19 AM To: Perl List Subject: If - Else What? Mike Here Can someone tell me why this simple bit of code doesn't work? The "If" statement prints even when it's false. $x = 20; $y = 15.5; $z = .05; $a = $x+$y; print "a equals $a.\n"; if ($a = 20) {print "a is equal to 20.\n";} else {print "a is not equal to 20.\n";}