>vfp 3.0 win 95
>
>I need to compare a string of characters typed into
>a text box.
>
>Say for example Q7428-452-6587-1234
>
>I need to check alpa and numeric characters in a specific
>order. I want the form to check for this string before it
>will run the form.
>

If your separator character is always the same, and is not a legal character in other locations in the string, you can always use CHRTRAN() to strip it - for example, in your case:

cMyStringToCheck = CHRTRAN(cMyStringWithSeparatorCharacter,'-',SPACE(0))