I'm not sure why you are using such complicated way to order a table. If iot's not a one time deal, you can create an index on 'crimedate' (once) and just set order to it when you need.

* Create an index - once
USE crime EXCLUDIVE 
INDEX ON crimedate TAG crimedate
* Set order to tha TAG 
SELECT 0
USE crime
SET  ORDER TO crimedate

If it's one time deal or you don't want create an index, you can use a query

 SELECT * FROM crime ORDER BY crimedate ;
 INTO CURSOR crsCrimeSorted

>I have a table open and I am using an alias for it.
>I want to sort the table to a temptable .
>Then re-establish the sorted table as being used with it's alias. Here is my latest attempt at the code to do that.
>
>

>SET SAFETY off
>SORT TO tempcrime ON crime.crimedate
>USE tempcrime
>COPY FILE tempcrime TO (pcFileName)
>Select 0 && Selects the first available work area
>Use (pcFileName) Alias crime
>Select crime
>

>
>I haven't had success so far, but I have been tinkering with this long enough. Is there a VFP guru who can steer me in the right direction, please?