I'm positive about everything I've written. And I agree, varchar2 does not store spaces. That's why I'm here scratching my head as well.

I do have a theory but I'm not sure how I can check it. I have access to the input text file. What if the file that is being generated is putting something other than spaces in that field? Is there a way to check the hex characters of a text file (other than on the mainframe)?

I see a drop & recreation of the table as well as a recreation of the input file coming. The DBA manager won't like it, but he'll have to get over it. :-)

I'm getting desperate.