Terry-

>Hi chaps

Hope you don't mind if a lass replies? <g>

>I have the following code
>
>

>lcSeekKey	 = thisform.cRoute + thisform.cGen + thisform.cDirectn + "1 " + STR( ZONE, 4)
>

>where thisform.cRoute = "1 "
> thisform.cGen = "A"
> thisform.cDirectn = "O" and
> ZONE = 3, (table field) so:
> STR( ZONE, 4) = " 3"
>
>(all verified in debugger - watch)
>
>So how come cSeeKey ends up as: "1 AO1 132"? Where the blithering hell does "132" come from?

Did you take the tinfoil off the the top of your CPU? Seriously, when I just set variables to be what you say they are in the debugger the value is is what one would expect. So, I'd say there's something missing in either your description, or elsewhere. When I get stuck on these sort of X-Files type problems, I break it down (in the code) to parts. So, you might put in local variables, assign them to the values you're concatenating, and then concatentate those. Break the program just before you start setting the variables, and step through it, checking the values in the Locals window of the debugger at each step.