i don't use qbasic anymore, i use first basic from power basic alot, its almost the same, it compiles and linls and its shareware that dosn't expire. i like to use c but i know basic better, its easier and makes a smaller file, like when i have to change passwords in ftp scripts in 200 location i just tell them a files coming, and attach it to an email (47k) it dosn't require any runtime files, on a PC platform its very portable. i should really do these things in wsh but everyone dosn't have the engine installed.
thanks again for the code, it was very well done. Im having a problem converting it to 1stbasic because od the eof$, 1stbasic keeps telling me '= variable expected', i quess because the file isn't opened yet? if you have any suggestion please let me know. Thats the info ive been looking for, i cant loop through an array until i find out how to use EOF. !EOF dosn't work...nothing i've tryed does.

oh yeah! do you know how to use 'command$' for taking command line aguments?