First, for all of the MS SQL Server database purists out there that will complain vehemently against this method of extraction/formatting because of the special characters (SEE: http://www.webmonkey.com/re... that may (will likely) surface and need to be escaped, or that there's a better way to do this such as utilizing the XML Schema Collection/XML Explicit features available with SQL Server, etc. -- I recognize your concern, however, you'll have to admit, this is still (low-tech/mid-90's ......