I meant to add, effectively Hein's sample code solves the issue SSIO talked about, very nicely. Another wish, get DCL to default to VAR not VFC files, or possibly STMLF. I'm sure 40years ago there was a good reason for VFC but now not so much. NB this includes OPEN/WRITE x x.x and PIPE ... > x.x, possibly batch log files as well. gt