note extremely Oh lordy yes. I've gotten to the point where if it stumps me, it stumps me from being able to figure out how to ask the right question. If I could ask the right question, as another pointed out, I'd be able to find the answer. I spent 10 minutes or more today trying to remember how to get a hex string from a dang number (31 => 1F, 255 => FF, etc). I beat all over pack and unpack before I finally remembered that it was a piffle to do with sprintf. What a maroon. =) <p>The point is, once you are empowered with the resources, stating the search becomes the real problem. Heck you see this in the original design for SQL, in that it was supposed to be strictly parseable yet readable enough to clearly state your needs. They really wanted bosses and business types to use SQL. They were insane but the point is, you solve the search, you solve the problem. <p>You're a bright guy [jynx]. I'd never thought of this till I read your post. My issues these days are with posing the problem, not the solution! <p><i>-- <br> $you = new YOU;<br> honk() if $you->love(perl)</i> 70386 70386