Errr... RIGHT! I knew that!! Just testing! If the need is for only one "escape" value for resyncing, then escape only one or two (infrequently used) characters and pass all the rest as binary. Paul is right, now that I think about it, that is what the ASCII control characters were designed for. Isn't this the same sort of thing that is done in PPP? (Notice how I cleverly remembered not to say PPP Protocol?) James Newton, webmaster http://get.to/techref (hint: you can add your own private info to the techref) mailto:jamesnewton@geocities.com 1-619-652-0593 phone -----Original Message----- From: pic microcontroller discussion list [mailto:PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU]On Behalf Of Paul B. Webster VK2BZC Sent: Tuesday, September 07, 1999 1:44 PM To: PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU Subject: Re: Binary to ASCII Importance: Low James Newton wrote: > Why not a length byte at the beginning? Dead easiest to code. Divide > longer xmitions up into 255 byte packets. Probably because if you had a transmission error, you would never manage to resync. You need flags (and escapes) to do so. -- Cheers, Paul B.