Fred, I may be missing something but it seems to me that it would be simpler to use TYF/nv to print directly to your final file (c,:,\,d,e,s,k,t,o,p,\,',v,a,$,f,i,',.,p,s) and avoid creating FO.TMP, copying FO.TMP to the desktop, and deleting FO.TMP?Paul Lagassé