Brian - Been a long time since I did PASCAL and I can't see a particular problem with your code. The COBERR is interesting. You may be having a problem with COBOL error trapping if a COBOL program was involved at some point in your program. See http://docs.hp.com/cgi-bin/doc3k/B3150090013.11820/227 (down near the bottom). Regards. Glenn * To join/leave the list, search archives, change list settings, * * etc., please visit http://raven.utc.edu/archives/hp3000-l.html *