Makes perfect sense, but under what circumstances would $|=-1, unless those where you specifically defined it as such? I can see where it would be a much better idea to use $|=1 so you don't mistakenly define $| to 2 (or higher).

OTOH, why haven't more folks discussed the use of the FileHandle or IO modules that support the autoflush method? Wouldn't that negate this argument altogether?

-fuzzyping