>Anyone remember how to change *!* to *-- ? I read about it, but where?
If you are talking about the string "*!*", you can use the STUFF function...

DO WHILE .T.
store AT("*!*",cvar) to nstrloc
IF nstrloc=0
EXIT
ELSE
cvar=STUFF(cvar,nstrloc,3,"*--")
ENDIF
ENDDO