>>>Then why all the PEMSTATUS and VARTYPE stuff if TYPE is all you need?
>>
>>PEMSTATUS() also lets you check whether a method exists before you call it. I use it a lot in framework code.
>>
>>As for VARTYPE(), we have it because we asked for it. Using TYPE() correctly is tricky--do you need quotes or not? VARTYPE() is easier and faster, though it's meant only for cases when you already know the thing exists. I use it on parameters a lot.
>>
>>Tamar
>
>This is from the help:
>

>VARTYPE( ) is similar to the TYPE( ) function, but VARTYPE( ) is faster and does not require quotation marks ("") 
>to enclose the specified expression.
>

> They make it sound like they are interchangeable, but according to some posts here there seems to be problems in using VARTYPE in certain situations.

VARTYPE() is born with many bugs,
some are fixed, others are not fixed.

But TYPE is not the universal answer:

CLEAR

ON ERROR ?? "ERROR: "+MESSAGE()
test()
DIMENSION something[3]
something = 'blabla'

? "--------- AFTER ------"

test()


PROCEDURE something
	RETURN DATE()
ENDPROC


PROCEDURE test

? TYPE("something()")	&& TYPE return "U" for every bad syntax
? TYPE("1+''")			&& TYPE return "U" for every bad syntax
? TYPE("something(2)")  && TYPE don't call UDF
? VARTYPE(something(2)) && VARTYPE call array or UDF
? VARTYPE(something())  && VARTYPE call UDF but an array exists the fire a error !
ENDPROC