Consider: Python 2.3a0 (#29, Jun 5 2002, 13:09:10) [MSC 32 bit (Intel)] on win32 Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information. >>> compile("1+*3", "myfile.py", "exec") Traceback (most recent call last): File "<stdin>", line 1, in ? File "<string>", line 1 1+*3 ^ SyntaxError: invalid syntax >>> Shouldn't it print "myfile.py" instead of "<string>"? Thomas