>Me too, I always open the file first just to look at it (I am curious :-)) but when I didn't know what all of these hex means (and nobody can explain them) what I should do? Start decipher them?
>OK me (you, anybody) get a file that look like this:
>

>00FC1F1535FFOCOA
>....
>

>How you now where you must split the fields?
>Are these two fields or 3 or even one?
>Is the field first two bites or 3 or 4?
>remember nobody can give you the answer ;-)

Forget the header... go straight to the records :).

I've managed to convert data from various flavours of Cobol, Basic and whatnot - and then there were times when I did it like a surgeon (open, take a look, do nothing, close).