NIST The "getPrefix()" method returns the namespace prefix of this node, or null if unspecified. For nodes of any type other than ELEMENT_NODE and ATTRIBUTE_NODE, this is always null. Retrieve the first emp:employeeId node and get the first child of this node. Since the first child is Text node invoking the "getPrefix()" method will cause "null" to be returned. Mary Brady 2001-08-17