>>Michelle,
>>
>>VFP has a whole collection of low-level file functions to accomplish what you would like to do. Here are some of the commands you'll need
>>
>>handle=FOPEN()
>>opens a file up (the mode depends on the parameters you give it.
>>
>>FGET()
>>reads in a line (depending again on parameters as to the length of the line)
>>
>>FPUT()
>>writes a line
>>
>>FCLOSE()
>>closes the file
>>
>>FEOF()
>>determines weather end of file has been reached.
>>
>>and you would then use string manipulation to process what you have read from the file before you write back out.
>>
>>
>>HTH
>Also be aware of FREAD() and FWRITE() when there are no lines (CR/LF) in the file to be read from or written to and FSEEK() when you need to know where the byte pointer in the file is or to place it at a particular location.

Thanks,

Michelle