Hi, I believe there is a problem with the current version of perl-XML-SAX being shipped with SL5. On an affected machine "&" is not being correctly mapped to "&", viz: snip--- fgibbins@fleet sax $ perl -le 'use XML::Simple; use Data::Dumper; print Dumper(XMLin("<opt opt=\"&\"></opt>"));' $VAR1 = { 'opt' => '&' }; fgibbins@fleet sax $ snip--- Whereas what should happen (with a more up to date version of XML::SAX from CPAN) is: snip--- fgibbins@geosl548 ldap.sl5 $ perl -le 'use XML::Simple; use Data::Dumper; print Dumper(XMLin("<opt opt=\"&\"></opt>"));' $VAR1 = { 'opt' => '&' }; fgibbins@geosl548 ldap.sl5 $ snip--- Yours Faye -- Please sign my petition: http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/alcohol-buying/ --------------------------------------------------------- Faye Gibbins, Computing Officer (Infrastructure Services) GeoS KB; Linux, Unix, Security and Networks. Beekeeper - The Apiary Project, KB - www.bees.ed.ac.uk --------------------------------------------------------- I grabbed at spannungsbogen before I knew I wanted it. The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in Scotland, with registration number SC005336.