>This is probably a dumb question but . . . in VFP is there a way to chain multiple commands on a single line? Something like:
>
>x=4|y=6|x=14
>
>I've never seen this form but several other languages allow it.

No, since ENTER is the end-of-command marker.

But often there are shortcuts, which you may also use to make code more compact (and unreadable).

Here is one:

if x
  Function1()
endif

* may be wirten in a single line as follows:
iif(x, Function1(), "")

I sometimes used it when there are many similar groups of commands: if option1 is selected run report1, if option2 is selected run report 2, etc. - but it must be used with care, since the result can be difficult to read. Just as when you chain commands as you were hoping to achieve.