>Dan,
>
>>Does work in 8.
>
>No, it doesn't error. It doesn't produce a correct result. Consider this alternate example:
>
>

create cursor x1 ( firstname c(10) )
>insert into x1 values ( "Dave" )
>insert into x1 values ( "Abe" )
>insert into x1 values ( "Albert" )
>select distinct substr( firstname, 2, 5 ) as firstname ;
>   from x1 ;
>   into cursor x2 ;
>   order by firstname
>

>
>The output order is not what you think it is. Your ssno only sort of produces acceptable ordering because of the left(), but it doesn't work in the more general case.
>
>>Does work in MS SQL ( with a few changes :) ).
>
>What? Notable changes like SQL won't allow you to use the output column names in the ORDER BY clause in the first place? *g*

Sure?

Run this into MS SQL,it is ok:

create TABLE #x1 ( firstname cHAR(10) )
insert into #x1 values ( 'Dave' )
insert into #x1 values ( 'Abe' )
insert into #x1 values ( 'Albert' )
select distinct substrING( firstname, 2, 5 ) as firstname
   from #x1 
   order by firstname -- this is the output column Name

DROP TABLE #X1