>>There is directory() and adir() (with "D" option).
>>Tey flock().
>
>Thanks, i looked in the help, but didn't notice any links to directory(). Of course, since i typed it exactly that way in the subject, i feel silly for not trying that in the help index. I've used adir(), but never tried it with directories (again, help would have told me this if i had thought to look)
>
>Does FLOCK() put the table in exclusive use mode? (so Pack/Zap will work)
>If so, then i could open it shared, then attempt to lock it... thanks again.

---

Not a true exclusive state but you can do operations like indexing. To get it to exclusive mode you could check with fopen.

handle = fopen("mydbf.dbf",12) && Try a RW open
if handle > 0 && Not in use elsewhere
   =fclose(handle)
   use mydbf exclusive
endif

Cetin