Hello there. I used the code below to read and print the bitmap file attached (bitmap.bmp), which contains the character ASCII 26 (or 1A-hexa). This special character is used by MSDOS as an end of file marker. import IO import IOExts main :: IO () main = do bmFile <- openFileEx "bitmap.bmp" (BinaryMode ReadMode) charloop bmFile 0 charloop :: Handle -> Integer -> IO () charloop bmFile 70 = hClose bmFile charloop bmFile n = do hSeek bmFile AbsoluteSeek n a <- hGetChar bmFile putStrLn [a] charloop bmFile (n+1) This program did not stuck after reading the special character, but if you change putStrLn by putStr you will notice that a strange thing happens: after reading the special character, the program won't show any more characters. Why does it happen? Thanks, Andre Furtado