>>>Is there a simple way to convert this:
>>>

>>>"2002/01/23"
>>>

>>>to this?
>>>

>>>"01/23/2002"
>>>

>>>It actually starts out as this:
>>>

>>>"20020123"
>>>

>>>If that matters.
>>
>>How about

>>ab="20020123"
>>SET CENTURY on
>>SET DATE american
>>? CTOD(TRANSFORM(ab,"@R ^9999-99-99"))

>
>How can I work that into this?
>

>NewFormatValue = EVALUATE("ALLTRIM(TRANSFORM(CHRTRAN(FormatValue,CharactersToStrip,''), '@R ####/##/##'))")
>

>Where FormatValue is:
>

>"20020123"
>

>I'm not trying to get the date, but rather the text value.

That should have worked for your string - and for a date as well; the Set Date wasn't there for the transform(), it was for the CTOD. You could avoid the Set Date by using

eval(transform(ab,"[^9999-99-99")+"}")

And you can simply put your FormatValue instead of ab and that'd be it - and Set Date independent too. The eval() would return a date value, which you can then output any way you like.