exactly what i was looking for - thanks Al. that cleaned up the report.
k

>>i found the following code finds the word but i would like to limit the response
>> to the surrounding 10 words before and 10 words after the KEYWORD is found.
>>
>>

>>do while not eof()
>>cfile = rtrim(teach)
>>IF 'KEYWORD'$(cFile) = .T.
>>? cfile
>>endif
>>skip
>>loop
>>enddo
>>

>>
>>k
>>
>>>at a bit of a loss on where to start on this and can use some expert help.
>>>
>>>i am looking for a way to search a field for a word.
>>>when word is found to show the next 10 letters past the word.
>>>
>>>Tore gave me some useful search code but i don't know how to apply this to a field - nor how to reveal the search with the 10 letters past
>>>
>>>'myname'$(cfile) = .T.
>>>
>>>let's say field is called "myfield" and is about 200 characters in length.
>>>the word i am looking for is "myname" placed anywhere in the field.
>>>
>>>the response once the word is found should reveal "myname 123456789"
>
>Unless I'm misunderstanding what you want to do, you should be able to use the AT() and SUBSTR() functions for this e.g.
>

>lcLookFor = "myname"
>lnPrecedingChars = 10
>lnFollowingChars = 10
>
>* Within a single row:
>lnStartPosition = AT( lcLookFor, MyTable.MyField )
>
>IF lnStartPosition > 0
>  * i.e. search expression is found
>  * Be sure to handle cases where:
>  * 1. The field length is less than LEN( lcLookFor ) + lnPrecedingChars + lnFollowingChars, AND/OR
>  * 2. lcLookFor is near the start or end of the field
>
>  * This code just handles the case where the field is plenty large enough, and
>  * lcLookFor is comfortably in the middle of the field:
>  lcResult = SUBSTR( MyTable.MyField, lnStartPosition - lnPrecedingChars, lnPrecedingChars + LEN( lcLookFor ) + lnFollowingChars )
>
>ELSE
>  * search expression not found
>
>ENDIF
>