Dave Howell wrote: [...] > A Symbol is a non-variable variable (aka a constant) that always and > only contains its own name. Heh. That reminds me of the quote: The problem with programming is that variables don't and constants aren't." Perhaps the word you are looking for is "literal". I.e. the sequence of characters (':', 'x', 'y', 'z') is the literal representation of the symbol :xyz. (Just as you would say the sequence of characters ('1', '2', '3') is the literal presentation of the number 123). -- -- Jim Weirich -- Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.