Bingo!!! Thank you so much... I personally never use that command line and this is an inherited app... (the bane of us all)... I found it switched 'on' way deep in their... and only on that subsystem for some reason....

Cheers,

Ric

>SET SYSFORMATS ON will sometimes interfere when setting properties individually.
>
>Try SET SYSFORMATS OFF, followed by the code you posted.
>
>HTH, Hilmar.
>
>>Hi Everyone.....
>>
>>Could someone please explain why this is not working:
>>
>>

>>lcHolder1 = "01/01/2002"
>>
>>*-- Do a cursory check for a proper date format
>>lcSetDate = SET("DATE")
>>SET DATE TO BRITISH
>>*-- just the way we want it....
>>IF EMPTY(CTOD(lcHolder1))
>>
>> *-- This must be an error
>>
>>ELSE
>>
>> *-- This should be okay, so compare some dates....
>>
>>ENDIF
>>
>>

>>
>>This above always says lcHolder1 is EMPTY.
>>Even putting quotes

IF EMPTY(CTOD("lcHolder1"))....

>>
>>So how do I validate a date format before I do my date comparisons???
>>
>>TIA
>>
>>Ric