I don't understand this, but someone will. This all is happening under 4NT, but when I unset perl5shell, default shell is command.com. Here is output of comp\multiline.t, I've changed it to print contents of string, with ord values (for invisible chars)... System is Win95. Also, this test passes when stdio is used. ----------- e:\perl_extra\workin_bleadperl\t>set perlio=perlio e:\perl_extra\workin_bleadperl\t>perl comp\multiline.t 1..5 ok 1 ok 2 ok 3 ok 4 not ok 5 n: 110 o: 111 w: 119 32 i: 105 s: 115 32 t: 116 h: 104 e: 101 32 t: 116 i: 105 m: 109 e: 101 13 10 f: 102 o: 111 r: 114 32 a: 97 l: 108 l: 108 32 g: 103 o: 111 o: 111 d: 100 32 m: 109 e: 101 n: 110 13 10 t: 116 o: 111 32 c: 99 o: 111 m: 109 e: 101 32 t: 116 o: 111 .: 46 13 10 13 10 13 10 !: 33 13 10 13 10 n: 110 o: 111 w: 119 32 i: 105 s: 115 32 t: 116 h: 104 e: 101 32 t: 116 i: 105 m: 109 e: 101 10 f: 102 o: 111 r: 114 32 a: 97 l: 108 l: 108 32 g: 103 o: 111 o: 111 d: 100 32 m: 109 e: 101 n: 110 10 t: 116 o: 111 32 c: 99 o: 111 m: 109 e: 101 32 t: 116 o: 111 .: 46 10 10 10 !: 33 10 10 e:\perl_extra\workin_bleadperl\t>unset perl5shell e:\perl_extra\workin_bleadperl\t>perl comp\multiline.t 1..5 ok 1 ok 2 ok 3 ok 4 ok 5 n: 110 o: 111 w: 119 32 i: 105 s: 115 32 t: 116 h: 104 e: 101 32 t: 116 i: 105 m: 109 e: 101 10 f: 102 o: 111 r: 114 32 a: 97 l: 108 l: 108 32 g: 103 o: 111 o: 111 d: 100 32 m: 109 e: 101 n: 110 10 t: 116 o: 111 32 c: 99 o: 111 m: 109 e: 101 32 t: 116 o: 111 .: 46 10 10 10 !: 33 10 10 n: 110 o: 111 w: 119 32 i: 105 s: 115 32 t: 116 h: 104 e: 101 32 t: 116 i: 105 m: 109 e: 101 10 f: 102 o: 111 r: 114 32 a: 97 l: 108 l: 108 32 g: 103 o: 111 o: 111 d: 100 32 m: 109 e: 101 n: 110 10 t: 116 o: 111 32 c: 99 o: 111 m: 109 e: 101 32 t: 116 o: 111 .: 46 10 10 10 !: 33 10 10 -- . `\!, . <. .> [=======oOo==( ^ )==oOo========[ indy@hemo.net ]=======] |--- _ - --- [ member of ]--- | [========( )======_==============[ .counter attack. ]==] . () ( ) . ()