>>>The print when in a report field said >>>>>> bill_type <> "ST" >>> >>>All was well till some rows with bill_type = "STRAP" disappeared and the user complained. >>>Yes, I know that's how VFP works, but it's a PITA. >> >>Stupid question....and this shows how little VFP work I've done in the last 17 years...but isn't there a SET EXACT (or similar) setting in VFP? > >Yes there is but I used Tore's method when I figured out what the issue was. > >I'll never get used to the idea that someone would write a language that allowed "STRAP" = "ST" to be true and therefore I'm doomed to make that mistake over and over.
It makes sense when you remember that FoxBase was created as an interactive language, where users were going to be typing in their commands. So a lot of things were optimized to make it easy for the user to type the right thing. In that scenario, having SEEK "ST" (actually, early on, I think it was just FIND ST, without the quotes; not 100% sure, but I think SEEK came later) to find the first record that begins with "ST" makes perfect sense.
Among the other things built on that same philosophy is that you can enter a number and the record pointer moves to that record. That is, the keyword GO is optional.
Add a promise of never breaking existing code and there you are.
