Roger Pack wrote: >> Why is #size == 4 rather than 5; and > > maybe you could add a > puts @argv.inspect to see what's going on ? > =r puts @argv.class puts @argv.size puts @argv puts @argv.inspect @argv.include?("--update") ? puts("Includes update") : puts("No --update") puts @argv.index("'--update'") Array 5 '-s /doc/data/fx-noon-all-2009-04-15.xml' '-f csv' '-o forex_testing' '--update' '-t' ["'-s /doc/data/fx-noon-all-2009-04-15.xml' ", "'-f csv' ", "'-o forex_testing' ", "'--update' ", "'-t' "] No --update nil Excellent suggestion. The trailing space ... Sigh... Thanks! -- Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.