Thanks sergey

actually found this morning a typo

an extra space so "dir C:\test\ *.* /b" should have been "dir C:\test\*.* /b"

Nick


>Maybe you have records already in the table?
>
>>
>>I'm using
>>
>>insert into tempdb.dbo.scan_file_list
>>exec xp_cmdshell 'dir C:\test\ *.* /b'
>>
>>to try and load a list of filenames into a tble.
>>
>>But I get other for instance files from the windows system directory included .
>>
>>What am I doing wrong.
>>
>>Thanks