Expand/parse variables in file

All, This ought to be simple, but I can't crack it... I'm trying to read a plain text file where I embedded some variables. E.g. abc $a def Sucking this file in a string and setting $a to "whatever" results in "abc $a def" rather than "abc whatever def". Where's the difference to directly doing the following: $a = "whatever"; $b = "abc $a def"; echo $b; which results in "abc whatever def" ??? What am I missing? Thanks in advance. mit freundlichen Gruessen / yours sincerely Gunther E. Biernat Web Application Engineer ______________________________________________________________ RealNetworks GmbH Tel.: +49-40-415204-24 Weidestraße 128 Fax.: +49-40-415204-11 22083 Hamburg Mail: GEBiernat@real.com Germany URL : http://de.real.com ______________________________________________________________