>I am writing an applications where I want to:
>
>1. remvoe extra spaces between words, i.e. "xxx yyy" becomes "xxx yyy" and that the input is only A-Z and 0-9 (i.e. no specail characters)
>

Use reduce function from foxtools.fll, e.g.
set library to foxtools.fll
myString = reduce(m.myString)

>2. the input hast the format "xxx.yyy.ccc.etc) where "xxx", "yyy", "ccc", etc can only A-Z, 0-9, last character cannot be a period, and first character of "xxx", "yyy", "ccc", etc is A-Z.
>

lcAllowedChars = "ABCD....abcd...123..."
lcOriginalString = lcString
lcString = chrtran(lcString,lcAllowedChars,"")
lcCorrectString = chrtran(lcOriginalString,lcString,"")

>My questions are how to best remove the extra spaces and how check that only A-Z and 0-9 are entered.
>
>TIA