Sorry, "Undefined subroutine &main:: called at (eval 14)D:/software/Perl/lib/perl5db.pl:646 line 2, <$lh> line 7." This is the error I see in perl's debugger as I try each variation. If I try just running it without debug, I get "Can't use string ("") as a subroutine while "strict refs" in use at search.pl line 100, <$lh> line 7." That is true if the curlies are around the whole expression inside the parens or not. Without "use strict" I get the Undefined subroutine error.