hi, > anyone to offer any > explanation will be showered with greatness! here is an example: #include <stdio.h> void example() { char a[10]; char b[10]; strcpy(a, "123456789"); printf ("a: %s\n", a); b[20]='X'; b[21]='Y'; b[22]='Z'; printf("a: %s\n", a); return; } main() { example(); } debian:/tmp# ./example a: 123456789 a: 12345678XYZ¿|ýÿ¿?0 now imagine you receive the numbers 20, 21 and 22 and letters X, Y and Z from user input. bye Ralf