thanks Arch

where did hex come into the equation ralph? the calender is written in BCD so what's wrong with using 25 in the variable as PBP will just convert it into 00011001 if i defined the data as $25 then yes... i would be trying to use hex which would of course give 100101 or 37 decimal. but i AM using decimal so thats no problem

who said that i was denying that 8bits = byte and 16bits = word? i didnt

please refrain from being so scathing and be polite like Arch

thankyou

Paul