>George,
>
>There is no contradiction;
>
>lcVar = "123"
>
>lcVar is now a character expression, it is a character data type holding a string. If I ask TYPE() to tell the me value of the expression in that string it is numeric. Because type evaluates this way;
>
>TYPE(lcVar)
>lcVar = "123"
>The type of 123 is N
>
>Using TYPE(lcVar) is exactly the same as saying TYPE("123") because lcVar IS "123"
>
>Now the following doesn't work;
>
>lcVar = "ABC"
>TYPE(lcVar)
>
>Because the expression lcVar evaluates to ABC and that is not an expression unless it is the name of a field or variable. So the answer is U undefined.
>
>Analogous to this is the situation when someone thinks they need to compare a logical variable with a logical constant to get a valid expression. You don't, a logical expression IS a logical value just as a character variable is a character expression.

Jim,

It just seems to me that the documentation indicates that it (the parameter) must be a character string: "The expression must be passed as a character string." Passing a variable without the quotes is not passing a character regardless of the variable's contents.

What I think is happening here is that because the variable happens to be character (when containing just numbers) evaluates properly. However, when containing just letters it does not.

If I were to describe this, I wouldn't call it a bug, but I would call it a "feature". Under the circumstances, I still hestiate to rely on this in the future.

Agree?