Rather than ls > /tmp/foo, then od -c /tmp/foo, I'd do either ls | see or ls | cat -v according to your Un*x flavour. -- -- Nigel Horne <njh at root44.UUCP> Root Computers Ltd. {deccra,edai,glasgow,hrc63,ist,kcl-cs,qmc-cs,rlvd,pmllab,stc,warwick, ukc,unisoft}!root44!rootcl!njh