Walter

Like minds, Bro'! (although I ALSO deplore the use of "!" for "not" as I often don't SEE it in code - it can look like a "I" or "l" et al). Your soln is very close to mine.

Terry

PS. could you possible inquire for as to why my main menu and the left-hand column, with all the drill-down categories, are not available. I can't, for instance, start a new thread (although after this one there's probably some who'd say "good job too" :-) ). I can only see

- Visual Foxpro
  - Coding, Syntax & Commands

is there a general malaise with the i/f today or is it just mine?

TIA

Terry