World: r3wp

should also be noted that other  langs i.e. perl exibit the same 
behavior on windows do it is apt to be an OS call that decides two 
decimal places is wau too heady for its users

that said it has been solved here and on the maillist several times

Robert, here is my solution used in Canvas:

form-decimal: func [n /local p d] [
	n: form n
	if p: find n #"E" [
		if d: remove find n #"." [d: index? d p: back p]
		if not d [if d: remove find n #"," [d: index? d p: back p]]
		if not d [d: index? p]
		either p/2 = #"-" [
			insert/dup n #"0" (to-integer skip p 2) - d + 1
			insert n "0."
		][
			insert/dup p #"0" (to-integer next p) - (index? p) + d
		]
		clear find n #"E"
	]
	n
]

>> form-decimal 9E-2
== "0.09"

Robert you can use the PRINTF wrapper function in rebol.org. It helps 
with all kinds of number formating.

Thanks a lot. But I really can't believe that this formatting stuff 
isn't supported by default.

>> form-decimal -0.099
== "0.-99"

rebol []
form-decimal: func [n /local p d s] [
	all [s: negative? n n: abs n]
	n: form n
	if p: find n #"E" [
		d: index? any  [
			all [ d: remove find n #"." 	p: back p	d]
			all [ d: remove find n #"," 	p: back p	d]
			p
		]
		either p/2 = #"-" [
			insert/dup n #"0" (to-integer skip p 2) - d + 1
			insert n "0."
		][
			insert/dup p #"0" (to-integer next p) - (index? p) + d
		]
		clear find n #"E"
	]
	if s [insert n "-"]
	n
]

can anyone refresh my memory as to how to insert new lines within 
blocks so that saved blocks are tidy?

I have searched the net, the update docs and have no found it.  ' 
:-/

see NEW-LINE

thanks !   I feel a little dumb ... hehe

strange, I just searched it again, and for some reason, now, new-line 
is the first thing returned in google... damn... last week it wasn't 
in the first 3 pages   > :-(

ahhh...  I had searched for "rebol newline" ,  searching is subtle 
sometimes.<Petra2PnrXmlResponse>

I knew that name would cause trouble.

how to substract two dates including time?

difference in recent versions will subtract dates and times

hmm, not sure .... is difference any different from date1 - date2

I mean - when substracting two 'now values, the time is not being 
taken into account ..

>> a: now - 125:00:00
== 19-Mar-2006/9:08:07
>> a - now
== -5    ;; five days
>> difference a  now
== -125:00:16    ;;; 125 hours
That's the difference!
>>

There must be no timezone present

why should be difference call different to simple usage of minus 
op?

it's a strange hack -- difference was originally for sets. So making 
it work for time is seriously non-orthogonal.

I hate those hacks

Maybe we need three types instead of two. date! time! and idate! 
or stamp!

difference hadles timezones too.

I don't like hacks, but the minus op is a very practical shortcut. 
Should it try to be smart and return days if no time exists for either 
arg; otherwise do the same thing DIFFERENCE does (and what time do 
you assume if only given for one arg; midnight UTC?)?

Can rebol do hashes of hashes, arrays of hashes, hashes of arrays, 
data structures within data structures, similar to the way Perl does 
it with references?

I haven't actually seen documentation which explains concisely how 
to accomplish this with Rebol

it would be interesting if it could also do arrays of objects, and 
hashes of objects

but let's say I set some words to some blocks, and I put those words 
into another block, do I always have to reduce to actually see the 
stuff pointed to by the words in the blocks, or is there a way to 
actually insert the content of the words themselves into the blocks

You can reduce or not; that is, the choice of when to evaluate is 
up to you; and, yes, any type of block can contain any type of data 
nested to any level.

You need to be aware that the behavior of lists is *slightly* different 
than for blocks and hashes, WRT what INSERT does, etc. The Core manual 
covers it correctly I think.

hmm

but I mean, I don't want to have to reduce, I want to insert the 
actual values of the words into the list, not the word itself

when I insert the word, I have to reduce to show what the contents 
of the word actually are

let's say a: [value1 value2 value3]

and I want b to have a in it

b: [a] will have the word a, not value1 value2 value3

what I do b: [a] and have it put value1 value2 value3 in b instead 
of a itself

you can do B: REDUCE[A], but if don't want to reduce you can also 
do sth. like B: [ ] APPEND B A
But I think what your looking for is sth. like
	>> a: [1 2 3] b: [ ]
	>> append/only b a
	>> probe b
	>> [ [ 1 2 3 ] ]
	>> clear a
	== [ ]
	>> probe b
	== [ [ ] ]
	>> append a 4 probe b
	== [ [ 4 ] ]

why exactly is it called reduce also?

Because it reduce the words to their values?

It reduces the expressions found within the block (and it returns 
the results in a new block).

I am also perplexed why rebol doesn't have a substring function, 
sure even if you can create one with a few extra commands, it seems 
to me like most people don't want to have to invent a language, just 
to use the functionality that exists.

or I should rephrase that, to use functionality that exists in other 
languages

I hope rebol 3.0 has a substring function built in

even if source substring shows me the copy/part at stuff

A line in the sand has to be drawn somewhere.

substring is far more intuitive for someone who hasn't used rebol 
before than copy/part at