>>>>> "MAL" == M <mal@lemburg.com> writes: MAL> 1. %% becomes % MAL> 2. %ident maps to %(ident)s as we have it now MAL> 3. %{ident} maps to %(ident)s MAL> 4. %(ident)s continues to have the same semantics as MAL> before What happens to %dogfood or %sickpuppy? If you're trying to maintain backwards compatibility with existing syntax, you can't use %ident strings. -Barry