Hi The boost regex library makes liberal use of &*string.begin() For example ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- std::string result(++bytes, '\0'); bytes = ::LCMapStringW( id, // locale identifier LCMAP_SORTKEY, // mapping transformation type p1, // source string static_cast<int>(p2 - p1), // number of characters in source string reinterpret_cast(&*result.begin()), // destination buffer *of bytes* bytes // size of destination buffer ); -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Is this construct safe? Are its semantics specified by the standard? regards Sudarshan -- Sudarshan Gaikaiwari www.sudarshan.org sudarshan@acm.org