Hi > Want to try also the > Data.ByteString.Base.isSpaceWord8 :: Word8 -> Bool isspace: 0.375 iswspace: 0.400 ByteString: 0.460 Char: 0.672 Not as fast as isspace/iswspace, but quite a bit faster than Char. Perhaps someone needs to take a peek at the generated ASM for each of these routines and see where the Haskell one is falling down. Thanks Neil