>Can use TYPE or VARTYPE to check it is a string
>
>IF TYPE("m.MyChar") = "C" AND EMPTY(m.MyChar)

Yes, though I only use TYPE() when that's the best option. VARTYPE() is more straightforward in most cases. I also recomment using the #DEFINEs for VARTYPE() found in foxpro.h. I would probably write this statement as:

#INCLUDE "foxpro.h"

IF VARTYPE(m.lcMyChar) = T_CHARACTER .AND. EMPTY(m.lcMyChar)
    (some code)
ENDIF