>There are more than enough situations where speed isn't an issue at all, for example if it's not in a million times loop. Even in a SQL-query it's okay, as the substitution is done only once by vfp.

I remember a case - but I don't remember the exact details - where macro substitution turned out to be much faster. I think it was within a complex SQL - SELECT statement, where (my interpretation of the results) macro substitution had to be performed only once, whereas eval() was performed on each and every record.

The idea, of course, is to have a single SELECT command for (say) three alternative sort orders, and four different filter conditions, based on user criteria.

I find this particular case very difficult to program without macro substitution. And, of course, the macro substitution is easier to read (and maintain!) than two nested DO CASE statements, with a total of 12 SELECT statements...

Hilmar.