Bob> This works in bash: Bob> for CLIENTS in $(cat file); do ls -l ~${CLIENTS}/.bash\*; done Bob> where <file> contains a list of usernames, 1 per line. Sure, I thought of this, but then I would have to maintain an extra file, and if at all possible I want to do that. Hmmm ... how about a here document? I'll bet that would work ... Thanks for the clue. -- Lynn