ok so im using fopen to read a file split each line in to an array. Check those variables against the same situation with a different file. Replace a string in the second file with a string in the first file. Then rewrite the line with the new variable. here is a small example of how im opening and exploding the lines $fpoint1 = fopen ($newfile,"r") or die("couldnt open working file"); while ($data = fgetcsv ($fpoint1, $newfilesize, " ")) { $num = count ($data); echo "$num fields in line $row: \n"; for ($c=0; $c<$num; $c++) { } im opening the second file the same way and if data[0] and data2[0] are = then it will replace the strings. anyway if i made any sense at all i think you will know what im talking about. <-----CoreComm-Internet-Services---http://core.com-----> (Jon Marshall CoreComm Services Chicago) ([EMAIL PROTECTED] Systems Engineer II) ([EMAIL PROTECTED] Network Operations) <-----Enthalpy.org-------------http://enthalpy.org-----> ([EMAIL PROTECTED] The World of Nothing) <------------------------------------------------------> -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To contact the list administrators, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]