the solution I use successfully is:

empty( sys(2000,'c:\upload.txt'))  && if .t. file does not exist!

>I am using FILE() with a full path and a full file name. It works great unless the file is located directly under the root. FILE('C:\upload.txt') will return .T. as long as upload.txt is in the path. It does not matter that c:\upload.txt does not exist.
>
>Is this known behavior for FILE()? What are my other options?
>
>Thanks
>
>Brenda