>>Thanks for your response - It looks like it *should* work but I'm having the same results. Control comes back to FoxPro as soon as the RUN APP1.BAT executes, with the FILE1.DAT deleted and it falls thru.
>
>Of course, how basic of me... The .bat does the same thing; run the program and continue on without waiting for the .exe to end... Next time I'll try thinking before posting! :-)
>
>I'll think about that and come back if I think of something... Sorry for the error!

If you insert the CALL command:

App1.bat:
@ECHO OFF
CALL APP1.EXE
DEL FILE1.DAT

App2.bat:
@ECHO OFF
CALL APP2.EXE
DEL FILE2.DAT

the batch files should work the way you want them to.

HTH