Thanks for that, but unfortunately it does'nt seem to work.
I still get the "String to long to fit" error. I am using your version of the function. If I cange the return value to PADR(value,250) it works, but that doesnt really help me.

Jon


>Jon,
>The first returned value of the function is smaller then others, try:
>Select dspmemo(co_criteria) from co
>
>

>Function DSPMemo(tcString)
>* this functions coverts a string/memo for passing by URL
>
>LOCAL lcRetval
>* Check if the String is not NULL
>IF NOT ISNULL(tcString)
>   lcRetval = ALLTRIM(tcString)
>   lcRetval = STRTRAN(tcString, CHR(13)+CHR(10), "-")
>   lcRetval = CHRTRAN(lcRetval, ['`], [])
>   lcRetval = STRTRAN(lcRetval, [&], [and])
>
>   If Right(lcRetval, 4) = [<br>] Then
>      lcRetval = Left(lcRetval, Len(lcRetval) - 4)
>   EndIf
>ELSE
>   * Return blank for NULL
>   lcRetval = "%20"
>ENDIF
>
>RETURN PADR(lcRetval, 300)
>