Hi Gerald.

here's a solution to the date format problem.

what I do is set up a variable containing the conversion expression that
converts between date formats  then just use that variable to extract a
converted form of the date when reading the file... theat way the
conversion only needs to be figured out once and can be reused af often as
needed.


text>%tempfile
PATH\PROGRAM TO RUN                      ³AFTER³        ³        ³DAYS ³
                                         ³ DAYS³LAST RUN³NEXT RUN³ LEFT³ASK
endtext
echo ÄÄÄÄ %{at}format[03.3,%country] %{at}repeat[Ä,32]Å%=
ÄÄÄÄÄÅ%df%Å%df%ÅÄÄÄÄÄÅÄÄÄ >> %tempfile

set orig=%{at}instr[48,8,%{at}line[%bootfile,2]]

iff %orig == %df then
set dateconversion=%%date
else
:: build a date conversion expression in a variable...
set dateconversion=%=
%%{at}instr[%{at}index[%orig,%{at}instr[0,2,%df]],2,%%date]%{at}instr[2,1,%df]%=
%%{at}instr[%{at}index[%orig,%{at}instr[3,2,%df]],2,%%date]%{at}instr[5,1,%df]%=
%%{at}instr[%{at}index[%orig,%{at}instr[6,2,%df]],2,%%date]
:: aren't interpreted languages fun!
echo.
echo Converting date format from %orig to %df using expression:
set dateconversion
echo.
endiff
unset orig df

  do n=3 to %{at}lines[%bootfile]
    set prog=%{at}instr[0,41,%{at}line[%bootfile,%n]]
    set when=%{at}instr[42,5,%{at}line[%bootfile,%n]]

:: convert last to local format
    set date=%{at}instr[48,8,%{at}line[%bootfile,%n]]
    set last=%dateconversion

:: next is never used but I'll convert it too :)
    set date=%{at}instr[57,8,%{at}line[%bootfile,%n]]
    set next=%dateconversion

    set left=%{at}instr[66,5,%{at}line[%bootfile,%n]]
    set ask=%{at}instr[72,1,%{at}line[%bootfile,%n]]

 -=> Bye <=-

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