that should only happen for char columns, not varchar, try:

set nocount on
create table #x
( charf char(10)
, varcharf varchar(10) )
go

insert #x select 'hello', 'hello'
go

select charf
, varcharf
, "*" + charf + "*"
, "*" + varcharf + "*"
from #x
go


drop table #x
go

set nocount off
--
HTH,
David Satz
Principal Web Engineer
Hyperion Solutions
{ SQL Server 2000 SP2/6.5 SP5a } { Cold Fusion 5 SP1 } { VSS }
(Please reply to group only - emails answered rarely)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"Ben" <bshichman@yahoo.com> wrote in message news:3cdac960$1@10.1.10.29...
>
> I have a question - and I feel silly asking it !
>
> Im using SQL Server 2k with a CF 5.0 front end.
>
> Whenever I do inserts on char or varchar fields, it seems like I get a lot
> of blank characters after the text that fill up the rest of the size.
>
> For instance, if I am inserting a string into a char(10) field, say like
> "hello", it is tacking on 5 extra spaces at the end to fill it up, so it
> winds up "hello " instead.
>
> Help? What am I doing wrong here?