LOCAL lcWorkingValue, lcOriginalValue STORE "" TO lcWorkingValue, lcOriginalValue && Some code here... lcWorkingValue = mytable.myfield + " " + lcSomeOtherString lcOriginalValue = lcWorkingValue && Now change the lcOriginalValue in the code... && Some code here... && Now you can compare to the original value if needed...I don't see the need to have a multitude of variables with the same value -- the STORE command takes a single value and assigns to a list of variables. This seems to be useful at initialization and not later in code... The readability is an choice of the user as to which is "better":