Dear all, <hansl> function list das(void) list da = seq(1,$nvars - 1) return da end function function scalar mynelem (const list alist) return nelem(alist) end function function series get_global(int i) txt = sprintf("ols 0 %d -q",i) @txt return $xlist[1] end function #eval get_values(global) function string get_globnames(void) ret = "" loop i=1..($nvars - 1) -q ret = ret~" "~getinfo(i).name endloop return ret end function function void spoil100(bundle *b) s = nelem(b.xlist) end function function list spoil200(const bundle b) list li = das() s = mynelem(b.xlist) nams = get_globnames() ser = get_global(1) return li end function function void fu(string name) catch eval @name end function nulldata 20 set seed 13 y = normal() x1 = normal() x2 = normal() bundle bu list bu.xlist = x1 x2 fu("x1") fu("x2") fu("y") # no effect spoil100(&bu) fu("x1") fu("x2") fu("y") # "penetrating" the only difference # between spoil100 and spoil200 is in # using user-specified mynelem and # the native nelem; with mynelem # being just wrapper over nelem list lis = spoil200(bu) fu("x1") fu("x2") fu("y") lis <hansl> goes as expected on fresh git! A minor problem has left: function list spoil300(const bundle b) s = mynelem(b.xlist) nams = get_globnames() ser = get_global(1) list li = das() return li end function list lis2 = spoil300(bu) fu("x1") fu("x2") fu("y") lis2 Generated list lis2 ? fu("x1") ? fu("x2") ? fu("y") ? lis2 index y x1 x2 ser I. e. ser has penetrated into global data set Olewh