great thanks Greg.
k

>>i have a field called room1 with about 100 records. the field should contain lower case characters and numbers.
>>i would like to run quick checks on all entries to make sure there are no upper case in the filed entries. is there a way to do this collectively without running through the whole file. i wrote this, which works, but i suspect there is a way to do this without going through the file piecemeal.
>>all i want is an alert, not an inventory.
>>
>>

>>use mytable
>>scan for room1 # " " 
>>if IsUpper(room1) = .t.
>>wait window "upper"
>>endif
>>endscan
>>

>>
>>thanks for any suggestions.
>>
>>k
>
>

>	local aa[1]
>	select count(*) ;
>		from mytable ;
>		into array aa ;
>		where lower(room1) <> room1
>	
>	if( !empty(aa[1]) )
>		? 'problem with', aa[1], ' records'
>	else
>		?'ok'
>	endif
>