I can't take it any more. Convert to Perl. Now. ------------- #!/usr/bin/perl while(<DATA>) { my ($junk,$x,$y,$z) = split(/\|/); print qq{ X: $x Y: $y Z: $z }; } __DATA__ KEY|FOO|WRECK|CAR On Apr 5, 2005 9:03 PM, Post, Ethan <Ethan.Post@xxxxxx> wrote: > list is in file > > KEY|FOO|WRECK|CAR > > need to assign field 2 to X, 3 to Y... > > I hate... > > X=3D$(cat file | grep "^FOO" | awk -F"|" '{ print $2}') > Y=3D$(cat file | grep "^FOO" | awk -F"|" '{ print $3}') > ... > > in many scripts I... > > grep "^FOO" file | awk -F"|" '{ print $2" "$3" "$$ }' | read X Y Z -- Jared Still Certifiable Oracle DBA and Part Time Perl Evangelist -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l