>Wow, thanks, I would have never saw that one. I used your first solution, seemed simpler.
>
>Where would I find a list of illegal characters for a table alias, so I know what to stay away from. I tried searching help but I must not be using the correct topic.

Steve,

Search for 'Visual FoxPro Name Creation' or look for 'naming rules' in the index. The only characters allowed are letters, underscores, and numbers and the name has to begin with a letter or underscore.