One of my cohorts pointed me in the right direction. I should have known this from previous experience.
if ($st !~ /^[a-zA-Z \']+$/) { print "$st: bad chars found\n"; } else { print "$st: OK\n"; } A simple "^" at the beginning and "$" at the end. Thanks to all who assisted with the group-think. --Chuck -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]