Rick DeNatale wrote: > > By the way Bill, seeing who you seem to work for, I'd like to dedicate > whatever help I've given to you to the memory of Wally Schirra! You helped me learn more Ruby; always a pure joy. Thank you. I've since decided that I'm going to require the users specify the format instead of trying to back it out -- there are cases for which you just can't back out the correct format. Besides, the need is infrequent, and I have no sympathy for code that employs formatted reads... > Are you a turtle? <G> You bet your sweet ass I am! ;) Regards, -- Bil Kleb http://fun3d.larc.nasa.gov