Thanks for the resonses and apologies for the lack of script, and the glaring typo :
The area of code for the test is currently - open(ULIST,"/etc/passwd") or die "Could not open /etc/passwd"; @udata=<ULIST>; close(ULIST); sub check_details { return 1 if (grep(/$user/,@udata)); } So the script is correct and my post was wrong with $udata. I will experiment with Yaron's suggestions, as I can then pass a more complete error back to the user, with the existing user details etc. Not sure of the installation details, as perldoc does nothing. Again, thanks for the replies. Ashley. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://learn.perl.org/