I wrote to Donna Garverick: > I think what you mean to do is this: > > export V=`callci 'diskuse /HPSPOOL' | tail -1` > echo $V `date` > temp Donna replies: > i failed to mention that i tried glenn's export suggestion... > > /SYS/PUB: export V=`callci 'diskuse /HPSPOOL' | tail -1` > export: "/HPSPOOL/" is not an identifier > /SYS/PUB: Unfortunately, in fast and furious testing, I made an assumption. (D-oh!) The problem is really that "export" cannot handle the double duty as given above. A solution is to split that statement in two: export V V=`callci 'diskuse /HPSPOOL' | tail -1` echo $V `date` > temp --Glenn