On Wed, 23 Sep 2009 10:25:36 +0200, you wrote: Wow. I apologize. I thought I had that under control... :-) I wonder if VMS have changed along the way, or if it has always been like that...? It's my feeling that it has been always like that, anyway I can certify that VAX/VMS V4.7 works as I expected: [...Same tests as done by Bob] FLORRY::RPT$ type test.dat;-0 one FLORRY::RPT$ show system VAX/VMS V4.7 on node FLORRY 23-SEP-2009 10:21:58.14 Uptime 15 08:30:54 Pid Process Name State Pri I/O CPU Page flts Ph.Mem 00000100 NULL COM 0 0 15 08:29:27.66 0 0 00000101 SWAPPER HIB 16 0 0 00:00:00.06 0 0 [...] Bye, :) G. P.S.: This V4.7 was obtained by upgrading a V4.6, so I'm assuming that even on that release the behaviour would have been the same.