> Why is it that I can compare the .sex field to "2" but not
> the .line_id field to "0000001123" ????????????

Chas this seems very odd. The standard SQL syntax is to say fieldname = value (left-to-right), so something must be out of whack with the string comparison. Is SET EXACT ON? Is the value of .line_id (for those six records) appear exactly the same as "0000001123" when you check it from the command window with a ? table.fieldname?