>thanks cindy
>i found out what i'm doing wrong
>

>when i used allt(c.kind)='FABRIC' in VFP IDE it gets me results
>but when i tested 'FABRIC'$c.kind no records were found
>but when i used allt(c.kind)=='FABRIC' ( double = )
>there were no results
>therefore single = returns results even for EMPTY(c.kind)
>why is that ?
>
>>>SELECT D.dr_no,A.po_no,A.desc,D.rate,B.percent ;
>>>	FROM dr_etc   A ;
>>>	JOIN po_other C ON A.po_no  =C.po_no ;
>>>	JOIN delivery D ON A.ctrl_no=D.ctrl_no ;
>>>	JOIN payetc   B ON ;
>>>		STR(D.dr_no)+STR(A.po_no)+STR(A.job_no)+A.desc=;
>>>		STR(B.dr_no)+STR(B.po_no)+STR(B.job_no)+B.desc;
>>>	WHERE ALLT(C.kind)='FABRIC' AND A.job_no=101571;
>>>ORDER BY 1,2,3
>

Hi Edward,

Please read about SET EXACT and SET ANSI in Help. When VFP compares strings with ANSI OFF it compares as many letters on the right side as it has on the left side. LEN(ALLT(" ")) = 0 so it compares to 0 letters on the right side and it is always equal.