a:2:{s:4:"Name";s:6:"brenda";s:5:"Phone";s:10:"5555551234";}

That is what is called "serialized" data, generated by serialize(). More documentation at http://us2.php.net/serialize (read the comments for a more verbose explanation). The above is equivalent to this PHP code: array('Name' => 'brenda', 'Phone' => '5555551234'); only in a database-friendly format. -- Morbus Iff ( you're just a copy of an imitation ) Technical: http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/au/779 Culture: http://www.disobey.com/ and http://www.gamegrene.com/ icq: 2927491 / aim: akaMorbus / yahoo: morbus_iff / jabber.org: morbus