Mapscript question

[Paul G. Allen]

I didn't see my other post show up on the list, so here it is again.

I'm a little confused about the use of 'new'. What does the following
line do:

$map = new mapObj("<filname>.map");

Does it create a map file with the name <filename>.map or does it create
an object in Mapscript using an existing file whose name is
<filename>.map, so that it can be referenced/used in Mapscript?

PGA