SL Baur <steve(a)xemacs.org&gt; writes: Well said -- "kind of yucky, but OK" summarizes it. The funny thing is that this {following,preceding}-char are now actually *safer* than they were in Emacs 19, where they would stop when encountering a ?\0 character! Exactly. (= ?B (1+ ?A)) will work, but it's dirty. Still, it is arguably cleaner than scattering the code with `int-char's. -- Hrvoje Niksic <hniksic(a)srce.hr&gt; | Student at FER Zagreb, Croatia --------------------------------+-------------------------------- aibohphobia (ay' bo fo beeya): n. The fear of palindromes.