>Thanks, Lutz!
>
>The reason it matters dates back to FP2.0 when an ascii character was used to record certain numeric values for a diagnosis. Looks as if we need to slow everything down to cater for the very occasional 63 or 42 value. The alternative in VFP Compiler is to use your own C++ function which I think is the way we'll go, redefining LIKE as per your #DEFINE to redirect to a new function that can mimic LIKE very efficiently..
You are welcome.
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