I think a little more code is in order. If you test the output example like this using the startform method and specifying 'multipart/form-data' instead of allowing it to default to 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded' you get exactly the same output as if you had used the start_multipart_form method as you show in your post:

use CGI;
my $query = new CGI;

print $query->startform('POST','upload.cgi','multipart/form-data');
print $query->filefield('upload_file','',30,80);
print $query->submit("Upload"); 
print $query->endform();

# the code above prints this using either startform as shown or start_
+multipart_form as in the posted code

<form method="post" action="upload.cgi" enctype="multipart/form-data">
<input type="file" name="upload_file"  size=30 maxlength=80 />
<input type="submit" name="Upload" value="Upload" /></form>
[download]

So you can use either method (they just have different default encodings)

I don't see where you expect to get your 'month', 'year', etc params from in the code given and don't see how the different default encoding from the two methods should make any difference to CGI.pm as it will handle params passed via either encoding just fine. So the options are either your CGI.pm is broken or you have a problem with your code. From what you have posted it is impossible to be certain but if I were a betting man I would be backing Lincoln.

cheers

tachyon

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