I did array=( $(ls -l ) ) print $array  and got an error  Hmmmm...... did print ${array[2,9]} and got the expected result: elements 2-9 so zsh didn't like the first element Experimenting I did ls -l | while read one two three four etc ; do print $one $two $three ; done same error So after using zsh for 2 years , I've just discovered that it doesn't like variables to start with '-' . Obviously I can use Awk for this example, but I was curious as to why this is? I have bash and dash installed and neither have a problem with '-', don't have ksh so don't know about it. Thanks in advance of the answer   -----------------david   ------------------------------------------------------------- Veloci-rapture - when dinosaurs go to heaven. -------------------------------------------------------------