well had i realized that my small question would have caused such a controversy i would have thought twice. haha. seriously, i have learned quite a few tidbits from this thread. however, i am still having some problems with my search. i'm not sure if i'm just not grasping the concept or what. here's what i have:

1. SELECT (table alias)
LOCATE FOR ;
(table field) = (variable)

This one takes 10 seconds.

2. SELECT (table alias)
SEEK (variable)ORDER (table field)

This one also takes 10 seconds.

I didn't notice a change, so I figured I didn't have the syntax right or I was missing something. any clues?