From: "Rob Jarratt" <robert.jarratt at ntlworld.com> I propose the following format: +-----+-----+-----+-----+ |11-15|03-00|10-07|04-06| +-----+-----+-----+-----+ [...] Hopefully that is neither big endian or little endian so there won't be any arguments. I call it middle-endian, or rob-endian for short. Happy? :-) Ecstatically! A truly great network protocol is one that's equally painful for all hosts. This would be great for on-disk data structures too. Genius!! John Wilson D Bit