this did not fix it, changing "=" to "eq" in my if statements...??? #!/usr/bin/perl -w use CGI::Carp qw(fatalsToBrowser); #howdy use CGI qw(param); print<<end_of_html_start; content-type: text/html <html><head> <title>customgame</title> </head> <body> end_of_html_start $guess = param("guess"); $name = param("name"); if ($guess eq "") { if ($name eq "") { print ("hello there, please enter name here:<form method=post action=customgame.pl><input type=text name=name><input type=submit value=enter></form><br>"); } elsif ($name eq "randal") { print ("hi, since you're $name , you do not have to guess the secret word!<br>"); } else { print ("your not randal, so you have to guess the secret word:<form method=post action=customgame.pl><input type=text name=guess><input type=submit value=enter></form><br>"); print ("hello there, please enter another name here:<form method=post action=customgame.pl><input type=text name=name><input type=submit value=enter><br>"); } } elsif ($guess eq "toe") { print ("you guessed it! good job bossman!<br>"); print ("go read the <a href=http://www.abcnews.com>news</a>"); ) else ( print ("Wrong! <a href=http://toes.netfirms.com>go</a> again..."); } print<<END; </body></html> END -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]