If you want the date as 2006-01-24 (as you say), you need to be using \@
yyyy-MM-dd instead of \@ yyyy/MM/dd. And you still haven't answered our
questions about what you expect the \b switch to; according to the Help, it
"specifies the text to be inserted before the MERGEFIELD field if the field
is not blank." So I'm guessing this is what you're using to insert the
second date. I think you'd have better luck using an IF field he

{ IF { MERGEFIELD "Date2" = "" "" "-{MERGEFIELD "Date2" \@ yyyy-MM-dd }" }

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
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"Garry Jones" wrote in message
...
How do I combine the \b and \@ switches in MERGEFIELD?

{MERGEFIELD "Date2" \@ yyyy/MM/dd} ...has the desired effect.

{MERGEFIELD "Date2" \b " - "} ...has the desired effect.

{MERGEFIELD "Date2" \@ yyyy/MM/dd \b " - "} ignores the \b switch.

In my case I need to combine the two switches.

What am I missing in the syntax?

Any help appreciated.

Garry Jones
Sweden