Any expression can also be a statement. The statement +2 + 3 +4; is perfectly legal. It calculates the value and does nothing with it. (Of course, in optimized builds, the statement will be removed since it does nothing and has no side effects.) --Mike-- Visual C++ MVP :cool: LINKS~! Ericahist | PimpFish | CP SearchBar v3.0 | C++ Forum FAQ Dunder-Mifflin, this is Pam.