>>>

>>>CREATE table x-35k (test c(20))
>>>? DBF()    && C:\temp\x-35k
>>>? ALIAS()  && D
>>>

>>
>>Yes, I appreciate that, Sergey, but I'm talking about in a DOS env., when file naming conventions were more strict. IOW - going back to when I was 1st exposed, using dBASE III+
>>
>>Anyway, it doesn't matter - I'll continue using my "harmless" convention :-)
>
>Yeah, in a production environment I would never use such a naming convention. I found out years ago that naming a table starting with a number was problematic so I never do that.

If it's a legal filename (i.e. OS permits it) then it's OK. Now since rules for filenames differ from rules for VFP names (of variables, windows etc - including aliases), our mistake is to assume the juststem(dbf())==alias() forever. It just can't be, these two names aren't from the same universe.

Didn't really try any of those recently (I too am suffering from the same disease - all my table names are also good VFP names), but if you open any such table with an impossible name in a workarea above 25, its alias should be W26, W27 etc. Used to be once upon a time, don't know whether that's changed.