Valdis, Yes. It is possible to on a case by case basis (say within dig) to do the reversal. The key question is "Why is that reveral done in dig?" Do you genuinely believe that DNS notation backwardsness is all imaginary? Please think about the real issue here. The DNS notation is in fact backwards. I am not making it up because I want to do harm to .... There is a real problem here. I live inside of emacs and use completion for everything. Files, C/C++/Java/... identifiers, Data Base objects, elisp commands, ... But we can't do completion on http://www.vt.edu inside of emacs. Where you could on edu.vt.www. And the completion ability becomes a lot more interesting as we have more diversity on the top level. Or if the name spcae roof is raised. Internet object naming rules (e.g., URLs) is inconsistent with the rest of computing object naming rules. The long term social value of fixing this fundamental problem is huge. However, because people usually can't tell the importance of what they are missing, recognising the significance of the problem is tough. Now, can you please tell me what is wrong with pointing this out and hoping that cooperative measures can be taken towards fixing it? Admitting that we do have a problem is usually the first step towards progress. Thanks. ...Mohsen.