Great Allin, It worked, for the search didn’t crash gretl. You are a genius! I wish I can be your apprentice and learn all about computer and econometrics. :) Since the search is working on my MacBook Pro, my further question is (he never stops does he): 1 how to limit the search to just within a folder? 2 how to limit the search to a file type? 3 how to change the search from by file content to by name, and vice versa? Fred