Because it would work w/o evaluate too. Try ? EVALUATE('getfield') = getfield

*testeval.prg
CLEAR
?'Sending prof_sc'
getfield='prof_sc'
? EVALUATE('getfield') = getfield
value1 = WORDHIDE(getfield)
?value1
?'Sending junk'
getfield='junk'
value1 = WORDHIDE(getfield)
?value1

>Then why does the below work? Am I missing something?
>
>

>*testeval.prg
>CLEAR
>?'Sending prof_sc'
>getfield='prof_sc'
>value1 = WORDHIDE(EVALUATE('getfield'))
>?value1
>?'Sending junk'
>getfield='junk'
>value1 = WORDHIDE(EVALUATE('getfield'))
>?value1
>
>*wordhide function xstr param should = 'prof_sc' in this example only
>FUNCTION wordhide
>PARAMETERS xstr
>
>? xstr
>IF LOWER(xstr)='prof_sc'
>	RETURN 'mdr_dob'
>ELSE
>	RETURN 'unknown - prof_sc was not passed to this program'
>ENDIF
>

>