>Sunofagun ...
>
>SET DECIMALS TO 17
>
>... did the trick.
>
>I am stunned, amazed ... pleased to the max.
>
>Thank you.
>
>Best,
>
>Harold ...

It should not matter - something else is going on.

I ran this test

LOCAL lnI, lcDecimals
FOR lnI = 1 TO 18
lcDecimals = STR(lnI-1)
SET DECIMALS TO &lcDecimals
CREATE CURSOR crsTest (CharField C(6), NumField N(10))
INSERT INTO crsTest (CharField) VALUES ("2098")
INSERT INTO crsTest (CharField) VALUES ("0092")
INSERT INTO crsTest (CharField) VALUES ("3100")
INSERT INTO crsTest (CharField) VALUES ("2101")
INSERT INTO crsTest (CharField) VALUES ("2435")

SCAN
   REPLACE NumField WITH VAL(CharField)
ENDSCAN
BROWSE NORMAL
next

and it worked for any setting of SET DECIMALS.