>>If the table is a dbf and not too big:

>>lcData=Filetostr('timep.dbf')
>>lnCount=Occurs('|',lcData)

>>
>>>I have 250 records in a database called timep.
>>>Each record has 100 fields called p1,p2,p3 ..... p100
>>>
>>>Is there a global search i can do for a tally of the numbers of times the symbol "|" appears in the whole database - without having to count through each field of each record - ie without using scan or for-endfor. ie one or two lines of code.
>>>
>>>thanks for any suggestions
>>>k
>
>
>Maybe I'm wrong, but is this will accurate if the value "|" (0x7C or 124 decimal) appear in .DBF header?
>
>I think this code below will prevent that case
>
>

>lcData=FILETOSTR("timep.dbf")
>
>*!* skip until first record
>lnFirstRecordOffset = CTOBIN(SUBSTR(m.lcData, 9, 2), "2RS")
>
>lnCount=OCCURS("|", SUBSTR(m.lcData, m.lnFirstRecordOffset + 1))
>

Yes, I know, but karen wanted a maximum of two lines of code. :-)