thank you very much.
it works.
>Change
>USE (ma) alias WorkTable
>
>to
>
>USE (ma) alias WorkTable exclusive
>
>I could not figure out what's wrong with the syntax in this line
>

>delete from WorkTable inner join RecToDelete on WorkTable.telNo = RecToDelete.TelNo

>
>I have VFP8, and INNER JOIN is not listed in DELETE-SQL command in Help.
>
>Anyway,
>

>delete from WorkTable where exists (select * from RecToDelete)

should work in VFP8 as well as in VFP9.