Ron,

> How can I split a s9(4) binary field (16 bits), into 2 8 bit fields.
>  I've seen where 2 "X" are used but I can't convert them to numeric data.

It's obvious that you probably want to do this in COBOL and I know nothing
more about COBOL than how to spell it, but in virtually any other language
you could do something like this:

     For the upper byte: U = int(A/256)

     For the lower byte   L = A and 255  or  L = A mod 256

where A is the original 16 bit number, and U and L are 8-bit numbers.

Wirt Atmar