thanks viv - sometimes you just have to learn to think like a computer
k

>>sorry a quicky question here.
>>I have been persuing help and can't seem to find reference for this
>>how do i check the character length within a field length
>>
>>lname is a field 30 characters
>>the name 'smith' is 5 characters
>>i am trying to get 5 as the response.
>>

>>? len(Lname)  &&& give me the length of the field not the contents.
>>

>

len(trim(lname))

?