FYI, I get a significant improvement running Darrell's sample with string based exceptions (python -X...): Time: 7.36000001431 Time: 0.5 w/-X Time: 2.86000001431 Time: 0.490000009537 but running Skip's there is no difference. I-don't-know-what-it-means-ly y'rs Emile van Sebille emile at fenx.com -------------------