I have a table that gets a column added to it for every insert on another table. the general form of these columns are g_c_i_avg where i is the unique identifyer for the insert that caused the column to be added. I need to use this column to calculate a new value for another column in the same table on an update to that column. I can find the altered column, and even build a text string for it: something like column := ''NEW.g_c_'' || 7 || ''_avg''; but then i can't use the double precision value for that column. Any help would be appreciated. matt ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- TIP 2: you can get off all lists at once with the unregister command (send "unregister YourEmailAddressHere" to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx)