Hi, Purpose: obtaining the system ("short") path from a full path Background: File dialogs (visual studio) return a full path (e.g. f="C:\this path has spaces\thisfilenameislongerthan8char.txt"). If this value is provided to Python, it will not recongize this as a file. In fact os.path.isfile(f) doesn't return false, it crashes. Likewise, when calling executables (from Python) with files as arguments a short path is required. VB FileSystemObject has the ShortPath method, while os.path and path (www.jorendorff.com) modules do not (at least as far as my googling could determine). Why bother creating a COM interface when you're just going to pass as shell run-time arguments all the values the server is better at computing? System: Python 2.3; Windows XP Sample Code: import win32com.client import time import os,sys import os.path #------------------------------------------------------------- def shortpath(x): z='' for y in x.split('\\'): if len(y.split('.')[0])>8: if ('.' in y): z=z+'\\'+y.split('.')[0][:6].upper()+'~1'+'.'+y.split('.')[1] else: z=z+'\\'+y[:6].upper()+'~1' else: z=z+'\\'+y return z[1:] #------------------------------------------------------------- xlApp = win32com.client.Dispatch("Excel.Application") xlBook = xlApp.ActiveWorkbook savFile = str(sys.argv[1]) rawFile = str(xlBook.Sheets("Timestamp").TextBox2) #print os.path.isfile(savFile) r=shortpath(rawFile) print r try: print os.path.isfile(r) except: print 'something rude' time.sleep(7) Notes: This code does not account for peer paths or files that share the first 8 characters (and file extension). I'm also aware that this is not the normal means for submitting a "patch", but in my job function I don't see myself regularly participating in python development (and I'm probably not savvy enough) so the effort wasn't worth it. However I still thought others might benefit from what seems to be (to me) a fundamental path function. Do with it, or ignore it, as you please. Cheers, Bryan Hartwell This message is intended only for the use of the intended recipients, and it may be privileged and confidential. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any review, retransmission, conversion to hard copy, copying, circulation or other use of this message is strictly prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify me immediately by return e-mail, and delete this message from your system.