Ted You don't say what language you are using. I have done this in COBOL quite easily, the following code fragments will illustrate the method. INPUT-BYTE is your byte length. WORKING-STORAGE SECTION. 01 FULL-WORD PIC S9(4) BINARY. 01 FULL-WORD-R REDEFINES FULL-WORD. 03 PIC X. 03 BYTE-VALUE PIC X. . . PROCEDURE DIVISION. MOVE ZERO TO FULL-WORD. MOVE INPUT-BYTE TO BYTE-VALUE. At this point the value of FULL-WORD should be your integer length. Bob Schlosser Melbourne, Florida (407) 727-6893 -----Original Message----- From: Ted Johnson [SMTP:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Tuesday, June 22, 1999 1:22 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: 1 byte binary field Has anyone ever tried to read a "1 byte binary field" with the HP? A file uses a 1 byte binary field before arrays to indicate the size of the array. We haven't had any success yet in reading this binary field. TIA, Ted -- ************************************************* Ted Johnson [log in to unmask] Information Systems Wake Forest University 336-758-4374 Winston-Salem, NC 27109 336-758-7127 FAX "If I don't give advice, I can't be blamed for giving bad advice if it goes wrong. I won't get credit for good advice either, but that's easier to live with." -- Abe Lieberman