kqbkfrplfhuthomsoncom steve thanks looking last index last matched subgroup last successful match clearly number like 805468008 cant right fact trying something like x causes memory error trying allocate array 8054680081 elements answer question 0 also 0 normally fiddle around program sent deleting irrelevant lines example see test print 00 almost cases strange reason dont understand cases value random memory location think goes bonkers hope helps bug fully reproducible servers hope get reproducible test case test servers john original message steve peters via rt mailtoveyjhbyfbuaeanjperlorg sent thursday november 15 2007 400 pm wiersba john th usa subject perl 47467 bizarre value wed nov 14 161630 2007 kqbkfrplfhuthomsoncom wrote bug report perl kqbkfrplfhuthomsoncom generated help perlbug 135 running perl v587 please enter report bug manifests aix solaris cygwin able find version program reproduces bug linux box perl 585 usrbinperl w use strict 1 d1 d2 _ abc xxxxx pos 0 x abcg print n x pos _ produces 041 bug visible also aix output 0805468008 many variations sometimes producing huge values causes perl abort memory example copying another array bug seems manifest different ways depending exact code script example aix remove otherwise useless d1 line get 0251658240 however remove also useless d2 line get 00 think shifting behavior indicates getting value random area memory affected apparently random way depending state apparentlyunrelated areas memory get manifest solaris need remove d1 d2 lines usrbinperl w use strict 1 _ abc xxxxx pos 0 x abcg print n x pos _ gives 019529970 clear expecting output steve thu 07 aug 2008 194900 0500 perl 47467 bizarre value