I would strongly recomend to modify your code to use a cursor name that is different from any existing table name. Otherwise you may unknowingly use cursor instead of table and vise verca. If you insist on doing that, try

USE IN ( SELECT("qm_cond"))
USE IN ( SELECT("qm_cond_table"))


USE qm_cond IN 0 ALIAS qm_cond_table

SELECT * FROM qm_cond_table into CURSOR qm_cond READWRITE ;
   WHERE f_query_id like qm_list.f_query_id+'%'
INDEX ON F_QUERY_ID TAG F_QUERY_ID
SET ORDER TO TAG F_QUERY_ID

...

SELECT qm_cond_table
APPEND FROM DBF('qm_cond')

>Looking for ways to make my code more efficient or at least not as embarressing.
>
>1) have a VFP free table1.dbf. Want to select records from table1.dbf and then end up with a readwriteable cursor called table1.dbf. Currently I have the following sloppy lines of code.
>
>

>IF used("QM_cond")
>   USE IN qm_cond
>ENDIF
>USE qm_cond IN 0
>SELECT * FROM qm_cond into CURSOR temp READWRITE ;
>   WHERE f_query_id like qm_list.f_query_id+'%'
>USE IN qm_cond
>SELECT * FROM temp INTO CURSOR qm_cond readwrite
>USE IN temp
>SELECT qm_cond
>INDEX ON F_QUERY_ID TAG F_QUERY_ID
>SET ORDER TO TAG F_QUERY_ID
>

>
>
>2) do some processing, then want to then update table1.dbf with the records from cursor table1. currently I am co
>

>SELECT * FROM qm_cond INTO CURSOR temp
>USE IN qm_cond
>USE c:\rt50vss\data\qm_data\qm_cond IN 0
>DELETE FROM qm_cond WHERE f_query_id like qm_list.f_query_id+'%'
>SELECT qm_cond
>APPEND FROM DBF('temp')
>USE IN temp
>

>
>
>Any suggestions are appreciated
>
>Brenda