Stan (possibly related to me) posted: ... > dbdfind (base, myset, mode4, item, dbfind_arg); > > *or* > > dbdfind (base, myset, mode24, item, dbfind_arg); and then cleverly forgot to mention the difference between the two! dbfind mode 4 is more expensive, because it must determine the number of matching entries and the head/tail pointers (because people know that value is in the status parameter which I also appear to have forgotten to include between mode and item :). The above should be: dbfind (base, myset, mode4, STATUS, item, dbfind_arg) *or* dbfind (base, myset, mode24, STATUS, item, dbfind_arg) Mode 24 is quicker, because it doesn't determine the exact number of matching entries or the exact head/tail pointers. Instead, a Dallas phone number is returned ... the value 2147483647 (or $7FFFFFFF). (Thank Larry Boyd for that phrase.) Stan