It appears that xargs really, really does not like a wildcard in the command construction. #cat workmid | xargs -i mv ./mqueue/df'{}' ./mqueue/offline #cat workmid | xargs -i mv ./mqueue/qf'{}' ./mqueue/offline work and move the files, but neither of: #cat workmid | xargs -i mv ./mqueue/*'{}' ./mqueue/offline #cat workmid | xargs -i mv ./mqueue/\*'{}' ./mqueue/offline work. Bizarre. Thanks for all of the assistance. This was really helpful. Regards, Jim -- *** e-mail is not a secure channel *** mailto:byrnejb.<token>@harte-lyne.ca James B. Byrne Harte & Lyne Limited vox: +1 905 561 1241 9 Brockley Drive fax: +1 905 561 0757 Hamilton, Ontario <token> = hal Canada L8E 3C3