In all this discussion, what happens when reading a file containing the line: 01730 which is the postal code for my hometown. This "looks like" a number but if treated like one, the leading zero is liable be dropped, leaving invalid postcode 1730 In more-pathological cases, 01730 could be interpreted as an octal number (984 decimal). It is disheartening that Perl's "be forgiving in what you accept; be strict at what you output" is violated by so many newer protocols.Thread Previous | Thread Next