>>I am updating a series of PRG's to optimize them for speed and to get them ready to convert into classes.

>FWIW, to make the statement fully optimzable, go back to the space(10) option and change the $ code to:

>NOT (Cdm.new_cpt = "Q" OR Cdm.new_cpt = "H" OR Cdm.new_cpt = "Z")

NOT INLIST(SUBSTR(Cdm.New_cpt, 1, 1), "Q", "H", "Z") is optimizable, easy to read, and easy to add new codes to. If EXACT is ON you will need to use SUBSTR().

There is always the tradeoff between optimization and clarity of code or ease of maintenance. Only Kevin knows just how fast his code needs to be. ;-)