I'll avoid taking the bait about which editor as actually the "perfect" one, and I will simply offer that VIM (VI iMproved) also handles various record separators, syntax highlighting, etc., etc., and works on a plethora of platforms including Windows and Macs. And, better than shareware, it's free -- get it at www.vim.org. I use it as my full-time editor for MPE files over Samba/iX, and it works flawlessly. BTW, it will read MPE flat files just fine (unlimited record length!), but saves only in bytestream format. -- Gary W. Smith [log in to unmask] > I can't speak from direct experience since I use BBedit on a Mac, which > handles all types of record separators with equal aplomb, however my > compatriot at Allegro, Michael Hensley, swears by UltraEdit, a shareware > programmer's text edior for Windows. He tells me it handles all types of > record separators, does syntax coloring for a variety of languages, and has > lots of other neat features. I would tentatively guess that this is your > "perfect" text editor.