> BTW, do you have a pointer to the definition of MBCS -- the > M in there sound very much like the M in MS ;-) Officially, the M is "Multi", as DBCS can sometimes mean more than "double"? The best doc I can find is: http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/backgrnd/html/msdn_mbcssg.htm It makes the vague statement that DBCS is sometimes referred to as MBCS - Ive no idea what the story is :-) Mark.