>I understand it is not a good idea to use ALLT() in an index expression. Why is it not a good idea to use ALLT() in an index expression? I think someone told me that before, but I don't think it ever caused me a problem. I can remove it and see what happens when I do a seek.

It's a potential problem. Example, your table is defined as f1 C(10), f2 C(3). You have the following records:

f1         f2
---------- ---
ABC        DE
ABCD       E

With an index on f1 + f2, you get:

ABC       DE
ABCD      E

But with an index on ALLTRIM(f1) + ALLTRIM(f2), you get:

ABCDE
ABCDE

If you then SEEK(ALLTRIM(f1) + ALLTRIM(f2)), which one are you going to get? How do you get to the other record?

HTH!