Michael,
you can select with the ABS() field and then use the SET FIELS command

SELECT *,abs(nfield)as test FROM myTable ORDER BY test
SET FIELDS TO ALL EXCEPT test
DO REPORT ....

by the way, it doesn't matter if you have one extra field. It won't change your report.

hope it helps

>Is it possible have a sql statement order the results by the ABS() of a field? I don't want to actually create a field with the data because the resulting cursor is immediately fed to a pre-formatted report.