Borislav is right in advising you to use the IN 0 clause in your code. But you still have several flaws in your code:

USE i:\ronnie\povnst1.dbf IN 0 EXCLUSIVE

Don't hardcode the path to the table. Put the path in a reference table and do a SET PATH TO at the start of your application. Also, do you really need to open your table exclusively?

USE i:\ronnie\povnst1.dbf IN 0 EXCLUSIVE
SELECT 0

Should read:

USE povnst1 IN 0
SELECT povnst1

The next line is commented out, is that what you want?

*INDEX on vnd_id TAG vnd_id

RECCOUNT() does count the deleted records. Is that what you need? Otherwise, use the COUNT command:

*COUNT1 = RECCOUNT()
COUNT TO Count1

HTH

>you said use 0
>
>if i am opening up 2 dbfs to create a temp relationship ...
>
>if i say
>
>USE i:\ronnie\povnst1.dbf IN 0 EXCLUSIVE
>SELECT 0
>*INDEX on vnd_id TAG vnd_id
>COUNT1 = RECCOUNT()
>USE i:\ronnie\povnda1.dbf IN 0 exclusive
>SELECT 0
>
>wont that confuse it?