>>>In VFP9 you can use the 0h prefix:
>>>
>>>?0h414243="ABC"
>>
>>But then the 0h prefix denotes a varbinary variable, which will be interpreted as a binary string or as a string interpretation thereof, depending on what's first...
>>
>>

?0h414243
>>?""+0h414243
>>c="414243"
>>?EVALUATE("0h"+c)
>>?EVALUATE("[]+0h"+c)
>>

>
>True, but it still works in a search and replace, without conversion. Which is what I understand Hilmar is trying to do.

Yes - just wanted to emphasize that in case of 0h strings (aka varbinary), the rules of string manipulation are somewhat different from what we're used to, so the usual IT DEPENDS really has to be capitalized. It works, just needs to be worked out how.