I wrote over the file I tried originally, with the while / wend code but I figured out why it didn't work, I had made labels and coded them this way
b1 var byte
b2 var byte
b3 var byte
LABEL!:

button1 ,port ,...
anyway I copied the button command out of the book assigned the variables to them and used IF Var b1= 1 then
serout 7,n2400, [" string"]
endif
LABEL2: more of the same

and what it did was display all the strings in a loop

so I trashed that code and went with my no variable code
LABEL1: while PortA.0 = 1
serout ["mystring"]
wend

LABEL2: WHILE PortA.1 =1
SEROUT ["more strings"]
wend
ETC . . .

and that would display at the push of a button
whereas you put the if statements under the main routine and made the LABEL statements into sub routines being called by the IF's
Like ah said I was Green ! I've only had PBP for about 2 weeks now and never coded anything before, . . . well PC Batch files, but nothing else.
I needed to give my code precedence and you showed me the way!
AND IT WORKS!

Thank You again
Joe Stokes

" I have never been lost, but there were a few times I was a might bewildered" ... Danial Boone