I wanted to convert all the ps files in a directory, so tried ls *.ps | xargs ps2pdf but got the "usage" msg from ps2pdf. Tried a few alternative with no joy and finally wrote a perl script that does a nice job (available on request). However, I'd like to know why xargs doesn't work here. J C Nash ---------------------------------------- Upgrade your account today for increased storage; mail forwarding or POP enabled e-mail with automatic virus scanning. Visit http://www.canada.com/email/premiumservices.html for more information.