Hi Allan,

>In my command window, if I type:
>
>open database "e:\switch rec test\data\admin1"
>
>. . . the database opens
>
>However, if I type the following:
>
>ctest = "e:\switch rec test\data\admin1"
>open database &ctest
>
>. . . I get the error "command contains unrecognized phrase . . .
>
>I want to be able to open a database that isn't in the program path - is there a better way to do this? Of course I won't be hard coding the path - the example above is just for illustration.

The problem is the space in your path.

open database (cTest)

should work.
HTH,