>I saw a sample where someone is using aline() to create an array from strings so here is what I came up with:
>
>

>spamstr = alltrim(xfer_payroll.spall)
>ALINES(a__gen5, CHRTRAN(spamstr," ",CHR(13))) && copy the values to array
>If vartype(a__gen5) # 'U' and vartype(a__gen5) # 'L' 
>  first_sw = .t.                   
>  FOR i = 1 TO ALEN(a__gen5,0)
>	IF  !EMPTY(ALLTRIM(a__gen5(i)))
>		IF first_sw = .t.
>			first_sw = .f.
>	 		crtspam = ALLTRIM(a__gen5(i)) && don't put space between string
>		ELSE 
> 			crtspam = crtspam + ' ' + ALLTRIM(a__gen5(i)) && put space while building spam str
> 		ENDIF 
> 	ENDIF 
>  ENDFOR                     
>  RELEASE a__gen5
>  ALINES(a__gen6, CHRTRAN(crtspam," ",CHR(13))) && copy the values to array                    
>                    FOR .f1 = 1 TO ALEN(a__gen6,0)
>                    	g1 = ALLTRIM(a__gen6(.f1))
>                        
>                        Do case
>                            Case g1 == 'FLSA'
>                                cummflsa = evaluate('xfer_payroll.spamt'+allt(str(.f1,3,0)))
>	                            hldflsa = hldflsa + cummflsa
>

>
>the only problem is that the array always seems to be created, even if there is no value in the spamstr. I'm not sure how I can prevent from going into a for loop if the string is empty after testing for "If vartype(a__gen5) # 'U' and vartype(a__gen5) # 'L' ". I was hoping no array is created if the string is empty. However it does and I don't know how to prevent from looping on an empty array. thanks....Nick

Well, you can simply add

if not empty(SpamStr) 
   * do our ALINES processing here
ENDIF

Also ALINES allows to specify delimiter character (but I forgot if this is already available in VFP8), so you don't have to use original CHRTRAN.