excellent solution Al - thanks for the help.

k
>>In the following command (fln refers to file name)
>>

>>if fln = " " 
>>fln = "Temp"
>>endif
>>

>>
>>i get this error message
>>
>>Operator/operand type mismatch
>>
>>I cannot find the point in my programming at which this variable becomes a numeric reference - but nonetheless Is there a command line i can run immediately before to check if fln is text variable, if not then change it to a text variable before the error message comes up.
>
>The EMPTY() function can be useful for something like this:
>

>IF EMPTY( fln )
>  fln = "Temp"
>
>ENDIF
>

>I can't remember if the VFP debugger supports conditional breakpoints i.e. you can set it to break when EMPTY( fln ) = .T.. Then your code will stop at the point that happens, which can make it easier to find the source of the problem.