Hal Keen <[log in to unmask]> [2006-12-26 15:22]: > Again, Perl is the obvious choice, if you've got it. I resisted the urge to reply the first time because it's OT, but twice is too much. :) In the words of the authors of _The Quick Python Book_: "In spite of all this I will answer 'Yes' if asked, "Is Python what Perl should have been?" Python is cleaner, easier to learn, and far more suited to large programming projects than is Perl. The languages are roughly equivalent in speed and capability, though Python possess some significant features that are difficult or impossible to emulate in Perl. The converse is not true, to my knowledge. Perl is better than Python at its original task -- fast system administration scripting -- but Python can easily be used in this capacity." The same author writes: "I knew and liked Perl long before I knew Python. I now use Python for everything I previously used Perl for..." Obviously, if someone knows Perl or Python it would be easier to code this (seemingly) easy problem in the language they know, but if someone who knows neither is considering which language to learn, Python is the obvious choice, IMNSHO. OK, I'll shut up now, and if anyone wants to debate the relative merits of Perl and Python, please let's do it off-list. And, to make this somewhat on-topic, if the person with the problem will define it for me via email, I'll try to write a Python program that will do what s/he wants. It would require that they install Python, but it's very simple under Windows, and Python is included in all the major Linux distributions. -rex -- Python is executable pseudocode Perl is executable line noise