Thanks Alex for the prompt answer to my question! As it is for personal purposes and I stick with UNIX, the system ('rm /dir/to/delete/*.bat') or die $!; suggestion works perfect.
I'm modifying the nph-build.cgi script to run as a cron job daily and I wanted to delete the backup and New files before building:
system ('rm /home/serve/bluewavelinks/scripts/admin/backup/*');
system ('rm /home/serve/bluewavelinks/New/*');
I knew the rm line to use but how to implement it in a script until you put forth the system command.
BTW, when you use a script for cron, does it matter if it produces HTML output? I've created a new file (cron.cgi) from nph-build.cgi and added the lines above and deleted the output lines.
Thanks again... Dan