diff --git a/libs/main/core/pistring.cpp b/libs/main/core/pistring.cpp
index 2448e0ed..fd90b325 100644
--- a/libs/main/core/pistring.cpp
+++ b/libs/main/core/pistring.cpp
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ const float PIString::ElideCenter = .5f;
 const float PIString::ElideRight  = 1.f;
 
 
-#define pisprintf(f, v) char ch[256]; memset(ch, 0, 256); snprintf(ch, 256, f, v); return PIString(ch);
+#define pisprintf(f, v) char ch[256]; memset(ch, 0, 256); snprintf(ch, 256, f, v); return PIStringAscii(ch);
 
 PIString PIString::itos(const int num) {pisprintf("%d", num);}
 PIString PIString::ltos(const long num) {pisprintf("%ld", num);}
@@ -95,14 +95,14 @@ PIString PIString::ultos(const ulong num) {pisprintf("%lu", num);}
 PIString PIString::ulltos(const ullong num) {pisprintf("%llu", num);}
 PIString PIString::ftos(const float num, char format, int precision) {
 	char f[8] = "%.";
-	int wr = sprintf(&(f[2]), "%d", precision);
+	int wr = snprintf(&(f[2]), 8, "%d", precision);
 	f[2 + wr] = format;
 	f[3 + wr] = 0;
 	pisprintf(f, num);
 }
 PIString PIString::dtos(const double num, char format, int precision) {
 	char f[8] = "%.";
-	int wr = sprintf(&(f[2]), "%d", precision);
+	int wr = snprintf(&(f[2]), 8, "%d", precision);
 	f[2 + wr] = format;
 	f[3 + wr] = 0;
 	pisprintf(f, num);
@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@ PIString PIString::dtos(const double num, char format, int precision) {
 
 PIString PIString::fromNumberBaseS(const llong value, int base, bool * ok) {
 	if (value == 0LL) return PIString('0');
-	if (base < 2 || base > 40) {
+	if ((base < 2) || (base > 40)) {
 		if (ok != 0) *ok = false;
 		return PIString();
 	}
@@ -135,7 +135,7 @@ PIString PIString::fromNumberBaseS(const llong value, int base, bool * ok) {
 
 PIString PIString::fromNumberBaseU(const ullong value, int base, bool * ok) {
 	if (value == 0ULL) return PIString('0');
-	if (base < 2 || base > 40) {
+	if ((base < 2) || (base > 40)) {
 		if (ok != 0) *ok = false;
 		return PIString();
 	}
@@ -166,7 +166,7 @@ llong PIString::toNumberBase(const PIString & value, int base, bool * ok) {
 		} else {
 			base = 10;
 		}
-	} else if (base < 2 || base > 40) {
+	} else if ((base < 2) || (base > 40)) {
 		if (ok != 0) *ok = false;
 		return 0;
 	}
@@ -197,6 +197,7 @@ llong PIString::toNumberBase(const PIString & value, int base, bool * ok) {
 
 
 void PIString::appendFromChars(const char * c, int s, const char * codepage) {
+//	piCout << "appendFromChars";
 	if (s == 0) return;
 	int old_sz = size_s();
 	if (s == -1) s = strlen(c);
@@ -221,7 +222,7 @@ void PIString::appendFromChars(const char * c, int s, const char * codepage) {
 	std::wstring_convert<std::codecvt_utf8<char16_t>, char16_t> ucs2conv;
 	std::u16string ucs2 = ucs2conv.from_bytes(c, c+s);
 	enlarge(ucs2.size());
-	ucs2.copy((char16_t *)PIDeque<PIChar>::data(old_sz), ucs2.size());
+	ucs2.copy((char16_t *)d.data(old_sz), ucs2.size());
 #  endif
 #endif
 }
@@ -311,21 +312,20 @@ PIString PIString::readableSize(llong bytes) {
 
 void PIString::buildData(const char * cp) const {
 	deleteData();
-	int sz = 0;
 #ifdef PIP_ICU
 	UErrorCode e((UErrorCode)0);
 	UConverter * cc = ucnv_open(cp, &e);
 	if (cc) {
 		const size_t len = MB_CUR_MAX*size()+1;
 		data_ = (char *)malloc(len);
-		sz = ucnv_fromUChars(cc, data_, len, (const UChar*)(d.data()), d.size_s(), &e);
+		int sz = ucnv_fromUChars(cc, data_, len, (const UChar*)(d.data()), d.size_s(), &e);
 		ucnv_close(cc);
 		data_[sz] = '\0';
 		return;
 	}
 #else
 #  ifdef WINDOWS
-	sz = WideCharToMultiByte((uint)(uintptr_t)cp, 0, (LPCWCH)d.data(), d.size_s(), 0, 0, NULL, NULL);
+	int sz = WideCharToMultiByte((uint)(uintptr_t)cp, 0, (LPCWCH)d.data(), d.size_s(), 0, 0, NULL, NULL);
 	if (sz <= 0) {
 		data_ = (char *)malloc(1);
 		data_[0] = '\0';
@@ -337,7 +337,7 @@ void PIString::buildData(const char * cp) const {
 	return;
 #  else
 	std::wstring_convert<std::codecvt_utf8<char16_t>, char16_t> ucs2conv;
-	std::string u8str = ucs2conv.to_bytes((char16_t*)PIDeque<PIChar>::data(), (char16_t*)PIDeque<PIChar>::data()+size());
+	std::string u8str = ucs2conv.to_bytes((char16_t*)d.data(), (char16_t*)d.data() + d.size());
 	data_ = (char *)malloc(u8str.size()+1);
 	strcpy(data_, u8str.c_str());
 #  endif
diff --git a/main.cpp b/main.cpp
index 38a223b9..057e06ab 100644
--- a/main.cpp
+++ b/main.cpp
@@ -130,7 +130,13 @@ int main(int argc, char * argv[]) {
 	}
 	piCout << l << "PIString::fromNumber" << tm.elapsed_m();
 	tm.reset();
+	for(int i=0; i<cc; ++i) {
+		PIString s = is;
+		l = s.size();
+	}
+	piCout << l << "PIString::assign empty" << tm.elapsed_m();
 	PIString is2 = PIString::fromUTF8(ba);
+	tm.reset();
 	for(int i=0; i<cc; ++i) {
 		PIString s = is;
 		l = s.size();