I see. I wasn't trying to become flame bait, and the eval( as.name( "my_value_from_the_sql_select" ) ) works just fine. Thanks for the insight since using "." in sql field definitions isn't an option. Jeff. Jeff D. Hamann Hamann, Donald and Associates PO Box 1421 Corvallis, Oregon USA 97339-1421 Bus. 541-753-7333 Cell. 541-740-5988 jeff_hamann at hamanndonald.com www.hamanndonald.com -.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.- r-help mailing list -- Read http://www.ci.tuwien.ac.at/~hornik/R/R-FAQ.html Send "info", "help", or "[un]subscribe" (in the "body", not the subject !) To: r-help-request at stat.math.ethz.ch _._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._