Alex-

>As always, many ways to skin a fox. But I like the PADL() solution (that's the one I normally use). A quick unscientific timing of these functions in a loop showed PADL() to be over 40% faster. And using "@L 99", although there is nothing seriously wrong with it, looks to me a little '2.6ish'. <g>

TRANSFORM isn't 2.6ish, is it? And we still have Format and InputMask clauses.

Nice benchmark info, though. I like TRANSFORM when I don't know what sort of data I'll be seeing, or if it's more readable. Just my .02 USD.