The register function for binary trees is the minimal number of extra registers required to evaluate the tree. This concept is also known as Horton-Strahler numbers. We extend this definition to lattice paths, built from steps $\pm 1$, without positivity restriction. Exact expressions are derived for appropriate generating functions. A procedure is presented how to get asymptotics of all moments, in an almost automatic way; this is based on an earlier paper of the authors.