Tuvia,
works as expected.

Do you have a function aTest somewhere? All I see is

>? left(atest[1],3)
>? left(atest(1),4)

Agnes
Update:

Maybe your comp is tired too. Reboot

>I think I am losing my mind at 4:00 am.
>
>I have an array aTest[1000]
>

>atest[1] = "   Hello"
>atest[1] = alltrim(atest[1])
>? atest[1]
>Hello
>? len(atest[1])
>5
>? lower(atest[1])
>hello
>* BUT
>? left(atest[1],3)
>[blank]
>? left(atest(1),4)
>   H
>

>
>Always the left functon on any array member is 4 chars off. Am I dreaming this?
>
>Thanks