>I have a table with fields including a date field, a character field and a logical field that stores the deleted status of the record - .T. = current, .F. = Deleted.
>id = N(10)
>Char = Name C(30)
>Date = Birth date D(8)
>Active = L(1)
>among other fields
>
>When changes are made to a record a new record is created with the changes, Active = .T. and the active = .f. for the old record. Thus we have an audit trail of changes.
>
>How do I create an index on the character field so as to SEEK only those that are active.
>

Use a FOR clause on the index:

INDEX ON NAME FOR ACTIVE TAG ACTIVNAME
INDEX ON NAME FOR ! ACTIVE TAG INACT_NAME

would create a separate index for each set.

Alternative, use a standard prefix character in th index expression and concatentate it with the name:

INDEX ON IIF(ACTIVE,'A','I')+NAME TAG NAMEACTORD

and now to find the active record:

SEEK "A"+cNameToFind

This way a single index containing both active and inactive items is built, and the lists are logically segregated.

>I use Locate for name = "MYNAME" and ACTIVE = .T. but this is too slow. I need SEEK so how do I create an index for this??
>
>Set filter to ACTIVE = .T. is also too slow. There are > 250000 records (including the non active ones)
>
>I need to
>
>Set ORDER to TAG myindextag
>and
>SEEK "MYNAME" which will give me an active record.
>
>Bernard