a simple shell invoked with arguements is easy enough... $ sh zgrep string file [file ...] zgrep: if [ $# -lt 2] then echo usage: exit 1 fi vgrep=$1 shift while [ $# -gt 0 ] do zcat $i | grep $vgrep | awk fil=$1 '{printf("%s:%s\n",fil,$0)}' shift done Now, was that so painful... -- sleepy at wybbs.UUCP Michael Faber