updating a text file by removing charcters in the file.

What you want to do is pretty easy, you're basically going to make use of 3 things, the TextReader class, the TextWriter class and the Replace method of a string. I know your question is in regards to VB.NET, but this article (which gives an example in C#) will give you info on how .Net reads/writes files. http://www.c-sharpcorner.com/Language/CSAndTypesGAG.asp The classes are the same in VB.NET, but the syntax varies a bit. -James