Been that way as long as I can remember. I think it is that way because different field/column names can be used in the SELECT statements as long as the data types are the same.

>I found a situation I can't explain. I have the following SQL:
>
>

>SELECT NOCLIENT,NOCAT,NUMERO,NOMEMBER,NOPARENT,NOTHREAD,ADDDATE,ADDHEURE,TITLE,.T. AS FLAG,1;
> FROM THREAD WHERE NoClient=5 AND NUMERO>=600000;
>UNION SELECT NOCLIENT,NOCAT,NUMERO,NOMEMBER,NOPARENT,NOTHREAD,ADDDATE,ADDHEURE,TITLE,.T. AS FLAG,0;
> FROM THREAD WHERE NoClient<>5 AND NUMERO>=600000;
> ORDER BY 11 DESCENDING,1,2,6,5 INTO CURSOR TEMP READWRITE
>

>
>The only way to make that work is to use an ORDER BY clause with numeric references. As soon as I put the UNION clause in it, I am forced to use numeric references for the SQL. Why is that?