Since there are programs around which exploit this, it probably ought to documented. Patch is for 5.005_63. Mike Guy --- ./pod/perlfunc.pod.orig Fri Jan 28 18:32:25 2000 +++ ./pod/perlfunc.pod Sat Feb 5 16:06:37 2000 @@ -5167,6 +5167,10 @@ vec($image, $max_x * $x + $y, 8) = 3; +If the selected element is off the end of the string, the value 0 is +returned. If an element off the end of the string is written to, +Perl will first extend the string with sufficiently many zero bytes. + Vectors created with C<vec> can also be manipulated with the logical operators C<|>, C<&>, and C<^>, which will assume a bit vector operation is desired when both operands are strings. End of patch