...
> You need to do one of two things [really one of one, I believe...]
...
>    b) remove the !
>
> >     :SETVAR VAR LFT(HPSTREAMEDBY,1,6)

I applaud the use of simply referencing the variable name
and not cluttering it up with quote, exclamation mark, varname,
close quote ("!varname").

However, as Donna pointed out the syntax seems to be for the
STR function and not LFT. If LFT is intended just omit the
second (middle) argument.

If I need to extract fields from HPSTREAMEDBY (or most any
variable) my preference is to use the WORD() function --
see HELP WORD for the details.  For example:
 . to extract the user name:    word(hpstreamedby)
 . to extract the job/sess id:  word(hpstreamedby,"()",2)

HTH,
Jeff Vance, CSY

p.s. I am assuming that MPEX WORD works the same as MPE WORD...