Tris wrote: > I went here: > http://www.phpbuilder.com/columns/dario19990616.php3 > but could find no reference to the ' ! ' you have at the start and end > of your $pattern string... > can you let me know what they do..? The ! is just the regex pattern delimiter. AFAIK it can be any regular character. Most PHP coders use / or ! or #. See the first paragraph on the PCRE page: http://www.php.net/manual/en/ref.pcre.php HTH! -- Max Schwanekamp NeptuneWebworks.com 541-255-2171