>Another way to get the same is to

Select * from ... into cursor tmp ... nofilter readwrite
alter table ... drop column somefield

>Don't remember the exact syntax for the drop. If you want to avoid getting the field even temporarily (because it's too long, or because it's a memo), then you need a full select statement. You may use Frank's macro, or build a field list as a string with that one field omitted, then use such a field list in a script that you'll execscript(), or run as a macro.

Pretty painful on large tables, so I want to avoid moving lots of records during the alter and (when querying vfp) I tend to:

Select * from ... into cursor T_tmp nofilter readwrite where PK = 1 and 1=2 && add Rushmore <g>
alter table T_tmp drop column somefield
Append from dbf(...)

regards

thomas