>>
>Maybe it's because I'm still in VFP 6, but this didn't work for me
>

>SELECT * FROM zipcodes WHERE filler2="ss" INTO CURSOR abcd
>USE abcd ALIAS qwer IN 0  && File does not exist error
>
>USE DBF('abcd') ALIAS qwer AGAIN IN 0  && this one worked

It has noting to do with VFP version. I missed that it was a cursor not a table. The last one is correct for a cursor/table. The first one would work for a table only.