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>I'm not familiar with TextPad so don't know whether its compare function is sufficiently rigorous but if, in otherwise identical environments, one file works and the other does not then logic dictates they are *not* the same.
>Does VFP see both strings as identical if you FILETOSTR() both files?

(D'OH!) Completely forgot about that function. Am checking it now and yes, VFP says one line is different. And of course, it would be the line that I have to have a chr(17) on, wouldn't it?