Ok Glennu..did as suggested above...and nope still the same...it stops still or loops still...O and by the way this..<$dir/category_name.txt.. that wouldn't work..for the topcat it would..but for the subcats..it would try and build in blues/A/blues/A/A.txt....and of course no such directory..thats my nickles worth..anyway it stops before then...did fiddle no success though..tis a bummer..its the one thing I really need..Ok you perl guru's..see if you can help Glennu and me work it out..I just no it can be done!

Admittedlamb.