>It's not a matter of anything in the behavior of PRIVATE variables declared either way; it's What is the scope of a variable created by VFP if no variable is presently in-scope that would resolve that name? We're asking what does VFP do if you reference something that can't be resolved by the current name table entries. There is no difference between a PRIVATE that is created explicitly or one that is created implicitly because no other valid variable that is presently in-scope has that name in use.

Ed,

Absolutely correct. Ther is no difference in the private scope of either the declared or undeclared variables. Declaring a variable name private does not make that variable any more or less private (that variable is the one you are about to create). It does hide any existing ones from the current scope.