Michael: I've worked with Cobol for a number of years, and C for lesser years (although not on the HP). The "X" items in the linkage area are probably handled as byte arrays in C, but the COMP item in Cobol must be defined as a short (16 bit) integer in C. Another thing to check is to see if the Cobol program expects four arguments or one. The "}" is the sign overpunch, but you should never see it in a binary number (like COMP is), unless you (or the code/compiler) converts it to a display-type number (which is what happens when you do a DISPLAY DATA-ITEM-3 in Cobol). COBOL Definition C Definition -------------------------- ---------------------- 02 DATA-ITEM-1 PIC X(20). ---------> char data_item_1 [20] 02 DATA-ITEM-2 PIC X(80). ---------> char data_item_2 [80] 02 DATA-ITEM-3 PIC S9(4) COMP.-----> short int data_item_3 02 DATA-ITEM-4 PIC XX. ------------> char data_item_4 [2] Hope this helps. Jim Phillips Manager of Information Systems E-Mail: [log in to unmask] Therm-O-Link, Inc. Phone: (330) 527-2124 P. O. Box 285 Fax: (330) 527-2123 Garrettsville, Ohio 44231