--- loncom/lonnet/perl/lonnet.pm	2014/07/03 14:59:01	1.1172.2.53
+++ loncom/lonnet/perl/lonnet.pm	2014/10/13 15:47:14	1.1172.2.55
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 # The LearningOnline Network
 # TCP networking package
 #
-# $Id: lonnet.pm,v 1.1172.2.53 2014/07/03 14:59:01 raeburn Exp $
+# $Id: lonnet.pm,v 1.1172.2.55 2014/10/13 15:47:14 raeburn Exp $
 #
 # Copyright Michigan State University Board of Trustees
 #
@@ -5704,18 +5704,17 @@ sub dump {
     if (!$uname) { $uname=$env{'user.name'}; }
     my $uhome=&homeserver($uname,$udomain);
 
-    my $reply;
+    if ($regexp) {
+        $regexp=&escape($regexp);
+    } else {
+        $regexp='.';
+    }
     if (grep { $_ eq $uhome } &current_machine_ids()) {
         # user is hosted on this machine
-        $reply = LONCAPA::Lond::dump_with_regexp(join(':', ($udomain,
+        my $reply = LONCAPA::Lond::dump_with_regexp(join(':', ($udomain,
                     $uname, $namespace, $regexp, $range)), $perlvar{'lonVersion'});
         return %{&unserialize($reply, $escapedkeys)};
     }
-    if ($regexp) {
-	$regexp=&escape($regexp);
-    } else {
-	$regexp='.';
-    }
     my $rep=&reply("dump:$udomain:$uname:$namespace:$regexp:$range",$uhome);
     my @pairs=split(/\&/,$rep);
     my %returnhash=();
@@ -10930,14 +10929,10 @@ sub deversion {
 
 sub symbread {
     my ($thisfn,$donotrecurse)=@_;
-    my $cache_str;
-    if ($thisfn ne '') {
-        $cache_str='request.symbread.cached.'.$thisfn;
-        if ($env{$cache_str} ne '') {
-            return $env{$cache_str};
-        }
-   } else {
+    my $cache_str='request.symbread.cached.'.$thisfn;
+    if (defined($env{$cache_str})) { return $env{$cache_str}; }
 # no filename provided? try from environment
+    unless ($thisfn) {
         if ($env{'request.symb'}) {
             return $env{$cache_str}=&symbclean($env{'request.symb'});
         }