XY-> Oh! Why didn't you *say* so.If you're just looking for an xpl challenge -> why not one that's related but not easily solved by alternative means--how -> about an xpl algorithm to get XTags->ascii ... pairs to {mdbo} ... -> {mdnm} (etc.)? (At the moment, I don't have time to play.) XY-> : [instead of ] you could also use <$> which returns -> : to the default font of the paragraph's style sheet. XY-> Not necessarily what's intended. The paragraph style could be ital. {mdmn} -> specific and so is
. If you examine a text file (Xtags) pulled from Quark (in ref to at least the Windows versions 3.31r5) the combination is and <$>. For instance, if the spec is to an italic font, <$> returns it to italic. Theoretically anyway. In any event, Quark xtags are filled with <$>. As for going from xtags to XyWrite, the program would be the functional reverse of what I described already with two major exceptions: the excessive use of <$> and the possibility of font switching. The latter is very important, especially if an expert set was used, in which "ffl" could carelessly become "Z"; which wouldn't be very desirable. XY-> But not perfect--as Leslie pointed out with his sample XY-> LB: the captain said --"abandon ship!" -> LB: [ ... ] will probably get --''abandon ship!'' Quark doesn't reverse characters. I put the above (minus spacing) into a Quark file and pulled following out. via Xtags filter: <$>the captain saiduoabandon ship!o <$>[ ... ] will probably getuAEAEabandon ship!AEAE via Xywrite filter: the captain said_"abandon ship!" [ ... ] will probably get_''abandon ship!'' The mistake is the open quote (due to the preceding em dash), not the close quote. You can see that the characters don't switch position. In terms of programming and/or global changes, the xtag version is to be preferred since its characters are simply the XyWrite ASCII numbers of the Windows set. XY-> Using specifics in xyW guarantees the correct QXP char. --annie I suppose it depends where you on on the production cycle. In using various people's text files, I curse like hell whenever anyone tries to do anything fancy. And it's easier to look for features I prefer to fix ahead of time such as combinations of single and double quotes which require a fixed space between them then have to take into consideration any special coding. Leaving the quotes alone has a factor of four different combinations of single characters; inserting special codes increases the number of combinations and the number of characters: Much more of a programming chore. I prefer simplicity. Just a preference. --Chet --- ? SLMR 2.1a ? Art + write + dtp = chet.gottfried@xxxxxxxx