the second line was not a typo , and thanks for that. these values may vary somewhat over time. So i may have to rewrite this part of the script.
a string is fine for right now, because it is just going to be pumped into a database. i can change it later if necessary. thanks for the help gents, i am going to just go with string functions, seems like it will be easier both to code now. and later if and when the format of this stuff may change. -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
