Virusim,

Opening tables: In #1, after opening the table it is the current work area. #2 and #3 open the table in another work area, but whatever work area was current will still be current. (Try it.)

Closing tables: In #1 you select the table and close it. Nothing is open in the current work area. If you wanted to open another table there right away, you could. In #2 and #3 the original current work area stays current while the table is deleted in another work area.

When I'm opening a bunch of tables at one, like at the beginning of an app, I use the "USE MyTable IN 0 ORDER MyOrder" syntax. The table I want SELECTed, is opened first, or I go back and SELECT it when I'm done.

It is not necessary to include ALIAS if the table will go by it's own name. The TAG keyword is optional. Also, specifying the name of the index file is optional if the index has the same name as the table. (Mine always do.)

Hope this helps.



>Hi,
>
>Just like to know what are the differences
>when doing the 03 commands below. Which one
>are refer one. Please advise
>
>It confused me as I open 4-5 dbf files like in example 3
>and had error with selecting one of the alias name like
>
>SELECT mymachine <==== alias not found error
>
>Please enlighten me. Thank a lot
>
>#################################
>* Example 1
>* open dbf file - machine
>SELECT 0
>USE machine ALIAS mymachine
>
>* close dbf file
>SELECT mymachine
>USE
>
>#################################
>
>* Example 2
>* open dbf file - xmachine
>USE xmachine IN 0 ALIAS myxmachine
>
>* close dbf file
>USE IN myxmachine
>
>#################################
>
>* Example 3
>* open file - ymachine
>USE ymachine ORDER TAG mcID of ymachine.cdx IN 0 ALIAS ymach
>
>* close file
>USE IN ymach
>
>#################################