For that matter, what's the "old (127's) paste command" it refers to? Every organization at AT&T had a number as well as a name. In the early days of UNIX, the number for Computer Science Research was 127. At some point a 1 was prepended, making it 1127, but old-timers still used the three-digit code. So it's a good guess that `127's paste command' means one that came from, or had been modified in, Research. I don't know when or where, though. I don't see a paste command in V7. paste.c in V8 has exactly the same comment at the top. Norman Wilson Toronto ON