perhaps someone can direct me to the code listing for Net::FTP

Well first you install Net::FTP then examine the FTP.pm file that is in the distribution directory (possibly in lib/Net/FTP.pm - I don't have an unpacked one to hand :) - you will find that you will also need to refer to the code Net::Cmd. of which Net::FTP is a subclass. You will see firstly that the Net::* modules all use the module IO::Socket rather than going straight to the naked socket routines - this gives them a clearer and easier to understand implementation IMO.

/J\