[snip] $tmparray = split(',', $csvstring); $element5 = $tmparray[5]; . to something like this: $element5 = (split(',', $csvstring))[5]; [/snip] The syntax is correct in your first example, AFAIK the PERL syntax you describe cannot be done straight up in PHP unless you write a function to handle it. You could always write a PHP extension. -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php