>I assume that you saw my exchange with Sergey. Now if you're just trying to find out whether or not a given file exists, then I'd just create a stored procedure to return the result of the call to xp_fileexist.
>
>Just one cautionary note, for lurkers. Access to the xp_cmdshell in particular should be restricted to users with sysadmin priviledges.

Hi George,

Yes and this has been a profitible thread for me. Got the info I needed and reminded me of some "tricks" that have to be used in some circumstances.

Good point on the privileges. Definitely want to limit who can get to these procs since they give access to the underlying OS and file system and unless the proc is executed under a sysadmin ID, specific rights have to be granted in order to run them.

Do wish MS would doc these "undocumented" procs. :-)