An alternative to using Fcopy there is an HP Intrinsic that can convert EBCDIC to ASCII. I have used this in a COBOL program and is especially nice when you are dealing with multiple record types with Binary or Comp fields in different places. Being COBOL you can have more flexibility than FCOPY. The IBMers think nothing about including binary fields in their files especially ones that are transmitted between systems. But only IBM runs EBCDIC while the rest of the world uses ASCII. Terry Warns OakSoft Consulting