This will probably take 2 seconds for anyone else, but I've been thrown in the deep end so please help. Basically, I create a string (its a file name), called file, which has the form ddmmmyy_number of anodes, eg. 22aug06_twoanodes or 03jul06_allanodes. I need to check the file names are of the right format, using preg_match. Can anyone please tell me what needs to go in it?? I know it's something like preg_match("/[\0123]\d\$month\[0][6789]\_$ANODE$/", $file) but can I really just use $month and _$ANODE?? (these are arrays, created already) Please please help. Very urgent!!!! Grace