Net debt lower than a year ago
194 of the 500 S&P 500 names on this site meet the rule today: long-term debt less cash at the latest quarter end is below the same figure four quarters earlier. By market capitalisation. The figures are the same arithmetic on the same filings as each company's page, as of 23 September 2026.
| Company | Net debt | Net debt change, 1 year | Debt to equity | Interest cover | Market cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apple Inc. AAPL | $42.8 billion | -$12.8 billion | 0.77 | n/a | $4.95 trillion |
| Broadcom Inc. AVGO | $37.1 billion | -$18.4 billion | 0.61 | 13.74 | $1.73 trillion |
| Micron Technology Inc. MU | -$19.9 billion | -$22.1 billion | 0.05 | 257.58 | $1.18 trillion |
| Advanced Micro Devices Inc. AMD | -$1.9 billion | -$636 million | 0.05 | 44.14 | $1.00 trillion |
| Walmart Inc. WMT | $28.4 billion | -$1.8 billion | 0.41 | 17.36 | $852.4 billion |
| Johnson & Johnson JNJ | $16.9 billion | -$3.7 billion | 0.44 | n/a | $649.4 billion |
| ABBVIE Inc. ABBV | $55.9 billion | -$580 million | n/a | 5.79 | $467.4 billion |
| Cisco Systems, Inc. CSCO | $15.7 billion | -$611 million | 0.45 | 10.45 | $439.8 billion |
| Costco Wholesale Corp. COST | -$13.3 billion | -$5.2 billion | 0.17 | 76.88 | $398.5 billion |
| Coca-Cola Co. KO | $28.5 billion | -$6.6 billion | 1.16 | 8.81 | $374.8 billion |
| Applied Materials Inc. AMAT | -$1.8 billion | -$1.9 billion | 0.20 | 33.00 | $368.4 billion |
| UnitedHealth Group Inc. UNH | $40.9 billion | -$4.0 billion | 0.67 | 5.57 | $341.7 billion |
| Procter & Gamble Co. PG | $12.9 billion | -$2.5 billion | 0.42 | 22.52 | $339.6 billion |
| Netflix Inc. NFLX | $2.7 billion | -$3.5 billion | 0.39 | 16.94 | $305.5 billion |
| Home Depot, Inc. HD | $41.9 billion | -$1.2 billion | 2.64 | 8.70 | $296.6 billion |
| Philip Morris International Inc. PM | $36.4 billion | -$1.9 billion | n/a | n/a | $292.2 billion |
| Wells Fargo & Company WFC | -$19.3 billion | -$2.4 billion | 1.01 | n/a | $262.1 billion |
| RTX Corp. RTX | $23.6 billion | -$9.9 billion | 0.48 | n/a | $261.9 billion |
| Sandisk Corp. SNDK | -$4.8 billion | -$5.1 billion | 0.00 | 169.71 | $257.9 billion |
| CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. CRWD | -$4.3 billion | -$40 million | 0.15 | 7.21 | $255.3 billion |
| Texas Instruments Inc. TXN | $10.4 billion | -$607 million | 0.78 | n/a | $247.4 billion |
| Citigroup Inc. C | -$33.8 billion | -$44.5 billion | 1.49 | n/a | $236.2 billion |
| Marvell Technology, Inc. MRVL | $1.0 billion | -$2.2 billion | 0.27 | 7.21 | $225.7 billion |
| Amgen Inc. AMGN | $43.3 billion | -$4.9 billion | 4.90 | 4.28 | $212.5 billion |
| Qualcomm Inc. QCOM | $8.2 billion | -$1.1 billion | 0.46 | 14.85 | $205.3 billion |
| Seagate Technology Holdings plc STX | $1.9 billion | -$2.3 billion | 1.66 | 14.42 | $199.0 billion |
| Analog Devices Inc. ADI | $4.6 billion | -$1.2 billion | 0.20 | 14.07 | $185.6 billion |
| Charles Schwab Corp. SCHW | -$17.9 billion | -$5.9 billion | 0.45 | n/a | $184.8 billion |
| BlackRock, Inc. BLK | $2.3 billion | -$1.0 billion | 0.22 | 16.37 | $169.0 billion |
| Western Digital Corp. WDC | -$527 million | -$3.1 billion | 0.12 | 26.99 | $161.8 billion |
| Union Pacific Corp. UNP | $27.4 billion | -$1.8 billion | 1.40 | 7.92 | $160.1 billion |
| Boeing Co. BA | $38.4 billion | -$7.7 billion | 7.47 | n/a | $159.0 billion |
| ConocoPhillips COP | $16.3 billion | -$2.0 billion | 0.35 | n/a | $153.2 billion |
| TJX Companies Inc. TJX | -$4.1 billion | -$2.4 billion | 0.18 | n/a | $144.2 billion |
| Newmont Corp. NEM | -$3.9 billion | -$4.9 billion | 0.14 | n/a | $129.7 billion |
| Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. BMY | $34.1 billion | -$2.2 billion | 1.92 | 6.88 | $127.9 billion |
| Capital One Financial Corp. COF | -$11.2 billion | -$1.6 billion | 0.39 | n/a | $125.7 billion |
| Lockheed Martin Corp. LMT | $16.7 billion | -$480 million | 2.34 | 8.24 | $123.6 billion |
| Parker-Hannifin Corp. PH | $7.0 billion | -$63 million | 0.49 | 12.64 | $120.8 billion |
| Medtronic plc MDT | $23.9 billion | -$980 million | 0.51 | 9.36 | $117.4 billion |
| Accenture plc ACN | -$5.1 billion | -$540 million | 0.16 | 39.85 | $114.6 billion |
| Altria Group, Inc. MO | $22.2 billion | -$1.2 billion | n/a | n/a | $114.4 billion |
| Valero Energy Corp/Tx VLO | $1.2 billion | -$2.6 billion | 0.36 | 17.78 | $113.2 billion |
| Marathon Petroleum Corp. MPC | $22.9 billion | -$2.2 billion | 1.61 | 8.67 | $113.0 billion |
| AppLovin Corp. APP | $462 million | -$1.9 billion | 1.11 | n/a | $110.7 billion |
| Starbucks Corp. SBUX | $9.8 billion | -$3.3 billion | n/a | 5.35 | $108.2 billion |
| Stryker Corp. SYK | $11.6 billion | -$2.7 billion | 0.62 | n/a | $105.2 billion |
| Phillips 66 PSX | $14.7 billion | -$1.5 billion | 0.60 | n/a | $104.4 billion |
| Bank of New York Mellon Corp. BNY | $22.9 billion | -$4.8 billion | 0.68 | n/a | $104.4 billion |
| Mckesson Corp. MCK | $4.6 billion | -$794 million | n/a | 23.62 | $103.4 billion |
| CME Group Inc. CME | $1.3 billion | -$159 million | 0.13 | n/a | $99.5 billion |
| Adobe Inc. ADBE | $407 million | -$811 million | 0.41 | 35.66 | $97.6 billion |
| Vertiv Holdings Co. VRT | $129 million | -$1.2 billion | 0.62 | 41.42 | $96.6 billion |
| General Dynamics Corp. GD | $4.4 billion | -$4.0 billion | 0.31 | n/a | $95.7 billion |
| Duke Energy Corp. DUK | $78.3 billion | -$888 million | 1.48 | 2.43 | $90.8 billion |
| CSX Corp. CSX | $16.2 billion | -$2.0 billion | 1.22 | 5.85 | $85.2 billion |
| 3M Co. MMM | $7.9 billion | -$1.5 billion | 3.69 | 5.31 | $85.1 billion |
| Emerson Electric Co. EMR | $5.3 billion | -$713 million | 0.37 | n/a | $84.6 billion |
| Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. REGN | -$469 million | -$458 million | 0.06 | 69.37 | $84.6 billion |
| Lumentum Holdings Inc. LITE | -$406 million | -$2.5 billion | 0.35 | 24.07 | $84.6 billion |
| Waste Management Inc. WM | $21.7 billion | -$892 million | 2.24 | n/a | $82.8 billion |
| Marsh & Mclennan Companies, Inc. MRSH | $17.8 billion | -$65 million | 1.27 | 6.28 | $82.6 billion |
| Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. HPE | $14.0 billion | -$5.1 billion | 0.76 | n/a | $82.0 billion |
| Comcast Corp. CMCSA | $76.6 billion | -$9.5 billion | 0.94 | 4.16 | $81.9 billion |
| Intuit Inc. INTU | $3.0 billion | -$125 million | 0.40 | 22.98 | $81.6 billion |
| American Tower Corp. AMT | $30.2 billion | -$2.9 billion | 8.59 | 3.52 | $81.4 billion |
| Cintas Corp. CTAS | $2.1 billion | -$25 million | 0.47 | 24.52 | $78.8 billion |
| Bloom Energy Corp. BE | $111 million | -$225 million | 2.82 | 3.41 | $77.6 billion |
| Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. WBD | $28.7 billion | -$1.1 billion | 0.98 | -0.57 | $77.2 billion |
| Mondelez International, Inc. MDLZ | $13.8 billion | -$334 million | 0.60 | 6.03 | $77.2 billion |
| Synopsys Inc. SNPS | $6.4 billion | -$5.4 billion | 0.32 | 1.29 | $77.0 billion |
| Northrop Grumman Corp. NOC | $12.1 billion | -$1.1 billion | 0.81 | n/a | $74.8 billion |
| ROSS Stores, Inc. ROST | -$3.3 billion | -$939 million | 0.15 | n/a | $73.9 billion |
| Apollo Global Management, Inc. APO | -$14.7 billion | -$11.9 billion | 0.65 | 10.23 | $73.7 billion |
| Cummins Inc. CMI | $3.6 billion | -$930 million | 0.52 | 12.13 | $73.6 billion |
| Target Corp. TGT | $8.8 billion | -$2.2 billion | 0.80 | 14.07 | $71.6 billion |
| Kinder Morgan, Inc. KMI | $29.7 billion | -$2.1 billion | 0.94 | n/a | $70.6 billion |
| FedEx Corp. FDX | $10.1 billion | -$4.3 billion | 0.74 | n/a | $70.0 billion |
| Norfolk Southern Corp. NSC | $14.9 billion | -$263 million | 0.98 | 5.13 | $69.4 billion |
| Boston Scientific Corp. BSX | $10.4 billion | -$197 million | 0.44 | 11.44 | $63.4 billion |
| Coherent Corp. COHR | $2.1 billion | -$718 million | 0.30 | n/a | $63.0 billion |
| Aon plc AON | $11.9 billion | -$2.6 billion | 1.35 | 6.16 | $61.7 billion |
| Allstate Corp. ALL | $6.7 billion | -$440 million | 0.22 | n/a | $61.7 billion |
| Comfort Systems USA Inc. FIX | -$1.8 billion | -$1.5 billion | 0.02 | 196.73 | $57.5 billion |
| Baker Hughes Co. BKR | $526 million | -$2.4 billion | 0.82 | n/a | $57.4 billion |
| Occidental Petroleum Corp. OXY | $8.7 billion | -$12.0 billion | 0.31 | n/a | $57.2 billion |
| Fastenal Co. FAST | -$85 million | -$77 million | 0.03 | 412.81 | $57.0 billion |
| AMETEK Inc/ AME | $560 million | -$355 million | 0.09 | 21.13 | $55.3 billion |
| Nucor Corp. NUE | $3.9 billion | -$835 million | 0.29 | n/a | $55.0 billion |
| Delta AIR Lines, Inc. DAL | $8.2 billion | -$2.8 billion | 0.59 | n/a | $54.3 billion |
| Nike, Inc. NKE | $379 million | -$118 million | 0.53 | n/a | $53.5 billion |
| Nasdaq, Inc. NDAQ | $8.2 billion | -$205 million | 0.73 | 7.41 | $53.2 billion |
| Diamondback Energy, Inc. FANG | $12.2 billion | -$2.8 billion | 0.33 | n/a | $53.1 billion |
| Sempra SRE | $30.1 billion | -$1.5 billion | 0.96 | n/a | $53.1 billion |
| Corteva, Inc. CTVA | -$683 million | -$305 million | 0.07 | n/a | $52.8 billion |
| Carvana Co. CVNA | $2.2 billion | -$1.2 billion | 1.21 | 5.29 | $49.7 billion |
| Becton Dickinson & Co. BDX | $12.8 billion | -$4.0 billion | 0.55 | 3.41 | $49.2 billion |
| Ebay Inc. EBAY | $2.8 billion | -$100 million | 1.10 | 9.90 | $48.2 billion |
| Rockwell Automation, Inc. ROK | $2.1 billion | -$31 million | 0.74 | 14.75 | $47.2 billion |
| PayPal Holdings, Inc. PYPL | $3.9 billion | -$69 million | 0.54 | 13.41 | $46.9 billion |
| L3Harris Technologies, Inc. LHX | $7.7 billion | -$2.8 billion | 0.46 | n/a | $46.0 billion |
| Autodesk, Inc. ADSK | -$1.6 billion | -$2.1 billion | 0.74 | n/a | $45.7 billion |
| Humana Inc. HUM | $7.3 billion | -$1.2 billion | 0.66 | 3.68 | $45.5 billion |
| Carrier Global Corp. CARR | $9.1 billion | -$331 million | 0.76 | n/a | $45.4 billion |
| IDEXX Laboratories Inc. IDXX | $103 million | -$182 million | 0.19 | 38.60 | $40.6 billion |
| Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. ADM | $5.4 billion | -$1.2 billion | 0.27 | n/a | $40.2 billion |
| YUM Brands Inc. YUM | $8.8 billion | -$953 million | n/a | n/a | $38.0 billion |
| Sysco Corp. SYY | $10.5 billion | -$760 million | 4.62 | n/a | $37.6 billion |
| Axon Enterprise, Inc. AXON | $1.1 billion | -$258 million | 0.47 | 0.21 | $36.7 billion |
| OLD Dominion Freight Line, Inc. ODFL | -$264 million | -$390 million | 0.00 | n/a | $36.4 billion |
| Illumina, Inc. ILMN | $451 million | -$107 million | 0.53 | 8.92 | $36.1 billion |
| Estee Lauder Companies Inc. EL | $3.8 billion | -$588 million | 1.92 | 2.34 | $35.1 billion |
| Hershey Co. HSY | $4.4 billion | -$169 million | 1.14 | 9.51 | $34.1 billion |
| Kenvue Inc. KVUE | $7.4 billion | -$170 million | 0.80 | 6.19 | $33.9 billion |
| EchoStar Corp. ECHO | $15.5 billion | -$7.5 billion | 1.13 | n/a | $33.5 billion |
| M&T Bank Corp. MTB | -$3.9 billion | -$14.1 billion | 0.49 | n/a | $32.8 billion |
| Huntington Bancshares Inc. /Md/ HBAN | $2.4 billion | -$378 million | 0.66 | n/a | $32.5 billion |
| Kimberly Clark Corp. KMB | $5.5 billion | -$318 million | 3.70 | n/a | $32.5 billion |
| Resmed Inc. RMD | -$810 million | -$269 million | 0.10 | n/a | $32.3 billion |
| Expedia Group, Inc. EXPE | -$1.2 billion | -$1.1 billion | 4.52 | 7.06 | $32.2 billion |
| Centene Corp. CNC | -$8.1 billion | -$11.2 billion | 0.71 | -8.61 | $32.1 billion |
| Vulcan Materials Co. VMC | $4.3 billion | -$510 million | 0.53 | 7.09 | $32.1 billion |
| EQT Corp. EQT | $5.5 billion | -$2.2 billion | 0.22 | 10.44 | $31.4 billion |
| Crown Castle Inc. CCI | $14.9 billion | -$7.0 billion | n/a | n/a | $31.2 billion |
| Mettler Toledo International Inc/ MTD | $2.1 billion | -$62 million | 164.70 | n/a | $31.0 billion |
| Carnival Corp. Ltd. CCL | $23.3 billion | -$2.5 billion | 1.97 | 3.70 | $30.6 billion |
| HP Inc. HPQ | $3.7 billion | -$2.2 billion | n/a | 8.18 | $29.8 billion |
| Kraft Heinz Co. KHC | $15.2 billion | -$2.5 billion | 0.49 | -4.65 | $28.9 billion |
| Citizens Financial Group Inc/Ri CFG | $2.4 billion | -$1.5 billion | 0.58 | n/a | $28.5 billion |
| Cboe Global Markets, Inc. CBOE | -$832 million | -$1.0 billion | 0.26 | 33.06 | $28.4 billion |
| Teledyne Technologies Inc. TDY | $1.7 billion | -$620 million | 0.19 | 24.50 | $28.2 billion |
| Ingersoll Rand Inc. IR | $2.9 billion | -$576 million | 0.40 | 5.58 | $28.1 billion |
| Verisign Inc/Ca VRSN | $944 million | -$528 million | n/a | 15.27 | $27.9 billion |
| Halliburton Co. HAL | $5.0 billion | -$102 million | 0.64 | n/a | $27.8 billion |
| Dollar General Corp. DG | $3.0 billion | -$1.5 billion | 0.49 | n/a | $26.9 billion |
| Vici Properties Inc. VICI | $16.6 billion | -$46 million | 0.58 | n/a | $26.5 billion |
| LAS Vegas Sands Corp. LVS | $10.3 billion | -$1.1 billion | 23.57 | 3.90 | $26.1 billion |
| Cincinnati Financial Corp. CINF | -$959 million | -$754 million | 0.05 | 78.40 | $25.6 billion |
| Principal Financial Group Inc. PFG | -$126 million | -$572 million | 0.33 | n/a | $25.2 billion |
| Eversource Energy ES | $24.8 billion | -$1.1 billion | 1.63 | 2.20 | $25.2 billion |
| Dover Corp. DOV | $1.5 billion | -$300 million | 0.42 | 12.46 | $25.1 billion |
| Fiserv Inc. FISV | $26.1 billion | -$1.0 billion | 0.99 | 2.95 | $24.7 billion |
| Darden Restaurants Inc. DRI | $1.4 billion | -$471 million | 0.74 | n/a | $24.1 billion |
| Veralto Corp. VLTO | $1.2 billion | -$160 million | 0.89 | 13.90 | $23.4 billion |
| DTE Energy Co. DTE | $10.9 billion | -$41 million | 1.12 | 2.90 | $22.9 billion |
| Keycorp KEY | $9.3 billion | -$1.0 billion | 0.55 | n/a | $22.3 billion |
| International Paper Co. IP | $7.5 billion | -$1.1 billion | 0.57 | n/a | $22.2 billion |
| Caseys General Stores Inc. CASY | $1.8 billion | -$113 million | 0.57 | 171.80 | $21.6 billion |
| First Solar, Inc. FSLR | -$1.7 billion | -$1.1 billion | 0.00 | 46.88 | $21.5 billion |
| International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. IFF | $4.2 billion | -$702 million | 0.34 | 4.03 | $21.3 billion |
| Ralph Lauren Corp. RL | -$480 million | -$26 million | 0.46 | 22.41 | $20.8 billion |
| Southwest Airlines Co. LUV | -$1 million | -$607 million | 0.54 | 5.21 | $20.4 billion |
| DOW Inc. DOW | $13.1 billion | -$1.3 billion | 1.13 | n/a | $20.4 billion |
| Expand Energy Corp. EXE | $3.0 billion | -$1.4 billion | 0.19 | 16.80 | $20.3 billion |
| Steris plc STE | $1.4 billion | -$212 million | 0.26 | 18.84 | $20.2 billion |
| Viatris Inc. VTRS | $10.7 billion | -$1.5 billion | 0.81 | -0.18 | $19.6 billion |
| Best BUY Co. Inc. BBY | -$1.1 billion | -$815 million | 0.36 | 38.00 | $19.6 billion |
| Amcor plc AMCR | $12.7 billion | -$267 million | 1.18 | 2.81 | $19.5 billion |
| LyondellBasell Industries N.V. LYB | $8.6 billion | -$926 million | 1.05 | n/a | $19.5 billion |
| Snap-on Inc. SNA | -$441 million | -$186 million | 0.20 | 26.58 | $19.1 billion |
| General Mills Inc. GIS | $13.0 billion | -$822 million | 1.83 | n/a | $18.9 billion |
| CF Industries Holdings, Inc. CF | $736 million | -$551 million | 0.56 | 18.60 | $18.7 billion |
| Tyson Foods, Inc. TSN | $5.8 billion | -$793 million | 0.36 | 3.10 | $18.5 billion |
| CDW Corp. CDW | $4.4 billion | -$696 million | 1.97 | n/a | $18.3 billion |
| Zimmer Biomet Holdings, Inc. ZBH | $5.9 billion | -$328 million | 0.50 | n/a | $18.0 billion |
| DuPont de Nemours, Inc. DD | $1.4 billion | -$2.1 billion | 0.23 | n/a | $17.5 billion |
| Nordson Corp. NDSN | $1.6 billion | -$342 million | 0.53 | 8.83 | $17.5 billion |
| Gen Digital Inc. GEN | $7.6 billion | -$443 million | 3.07 | n/a | $17.5 billion |
| Essex Property Trust, Inc. ESS | $6.3 billion | -$40 million | 1.20 | 2.39 | $17.4 billion |
| Franklin Templeton Inc. BEN | -$1.4 billion | -$69 million | 0.20 | 10.17 | $17.1 billion |
| Idex Corp. IEX | $1.2 billion | -$44 million | 0.47 | n/a | $16.4 billion |
| Revvity, Inc. RVTY | $2.2 billion | -$45 million | 0.45 | 3.82 | $16.0 billion |
| Solventum Corp. SOLV | $4.7 billion | -$2.6 billion | 1.06 | n/a | $15.1 billion |
| Charter Communications, Inc. /Mo/ CHTR | $93.5 billion | -$356 million | 5.54 | n/a | $15.0 billion |
| Healthpeak Properties, Inc. DOC | $8.4 billion | -$546 million | 1.28 | 0.44 | $14.3 billion |
| Invesco Ltd. IVZ | $709 million | -$253 million | 0.13 | -5.07 | $13.9 billion |
| Masco Corp. MAS | $2.6 billion | -$11 million | n/a | 12.65 | $13.7 billion |
| Trimble Inc. TRMB | $1.2 billion | -$2 million | 0.29 | 8.05 | $13.5 billion |
| Stanley Black & Decker, Inc. SWK | $4.2 billion | -$1.1 billion | 0.53 | 1.80 | $13.4 billion |
| Albemarle Corp. ALB | $245 million | -$1.6 billion | 0.18 | n/a | $13.3 billion |
| GoDaddy Inc. GDDY | $2.6 billion | -$82 million | 561.10 | 8.41 | $13.3 billion |
| Mccormick & Co. Inc. MKC | $3.3 billion | -$456 million | 0.52 | 5.34 | $13.2 billion |
| J M Smucker Co. SJM | $6.5 billion | -$498 million | 1.14 | n/a | $12.8 billion |
| Hasbro, Inc. HAS | $2.2 billion | -$613 million | 4.16 | 6.85 | $12.4 billion |
| Brown Forman Corp. BF.B | $1.8 billion | -$166 million | 0.52 | 9.64 | $12.4 billion |
| Generac Holdings Inc. GNRC | $926 million | -$130 million | 0.41 | 6.24 | $12.1 billion |
| Bio-Techne Corp. TECH | -$65 million | -$249 million | 0.09 | 26.16 | $11.3 billion |
| Hormel Foods Corp. HRL | $1.5 billion | -$741 million | 0.30 | 7.28 | $11.3 billion |
| Udr, Inc. UDR | $5.7 billion | -$148 million | 1.72 | 3.35 | $11.0 billion |
| Clorox Co. CLX | $1.3 billion | -$957 million | n/a | n/a | $10.3 billion |
| MGM Resorts International MGM | $3.5 billion | -$726 million | 2.41 | 2.49 | $9.7 billion |
| Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. ARE | $12.3 billion | -$431 million | 0.82 | -7.95 | $9.3 billion |
| Aptiv plc APTV | $4.6 billion | -$1.7 billion | 0.61 | 3.03 | $9.1 billion |
| Constellation Brands, Inc. STZ | $10.1 billion | -$1.0 billion | 1.24 | n/a | n/a |
Net debt: borrowings less cash and equivalents at the latest quarter end. Net debt change, one year: net debt at the latest quarter end less net debt four quarters earlier. Debt to equity: borrowings over shareholders' equity at the latest quarter end, both from the same balance sheet, on the basis the company filed and named beside the figure (US); as the company states it in its result statement (India). Interest cover, trailing twelve months: operating income over interest expense, four quarters. Market capitalisation: price times shares outstanding (the latest filed count, or the diluted weighted count where a company with several share classes tags no single count; India from the shareholding pattern). A rule in words over filed numbers; the list says which names meet it and nothing about what to do. Write your own.