Traced the problem - it is not character set or browser.
This code works correctly
a$ = "z" & "=" & "z"
wprint "a$ is "
wprint a$
wprint "<br>"
wprint "length of a$ is "
wprint len(a$)
wprint "<br>"
end
with the result:-
a$ is z=z
length of a$ is 3
and this code adds the extra spaces - so looks like a parsing fault?
a$= "z" & "=" & "z"
wprint "a$ is "
wprint a$
wprint "<br>"
wprint "length of a$ is "
wprint len(a$)
wprint "<br>"
end
the result is:-
a$ is z = z
length of a$ is 5
Anyway, I know how to get round it now...