Ed,

>>>>>>can you start a cursor name w/ a numeric value?
>>>>>
>>>>>Nope, or form properties/methods and object names, or field names.
>>>>
>>>>It's a FP limitation. You MUST start from letter. Try this:
>>>>
>>>
>>>or an _
>>
>>You can use _, but it's mostly for system variables, like _mline or _tally.
>
>Huh? Where did it ever say that in any of the VFP docs? It may be a naming standards decision for your development group, but it's always been an acceptable prefix for fields as long as name collisions don't occur. Using reserved names is just as (or more) dangerous in situations where the parser can get confused...
>
>From VFP6's help file:
>
>Creating Visual FoxPro Names
>
>Data containers and some parameters to commands and functions require a name. When you create a name in Visual FoxPro, apply the following rules:
>
>Use only letters, underscores, and numbers.
>
>Begin the name with a letter or underscore.
>
>Use 1 to 128 characters, except for field names in free tables and index tags — those can be 10 characters at most.
>
>Avoid words reserved by Visual FoxPro.
>File names follow your operating system's conventions.

Ok, ok, I agree :) I personally never named variables this way, but it's possible, you're right. Is this a real problem or do you want just emphasize it? BTW, how does VFP treat long variables names in program. I think, I had conflicts sometimes, but can not remember now in which situations...
Like myStringIntoFile or myStringIntoField.