>Are there any guidelines as when we can use (X) and when we need to use &X ? I know that (X) is faster, but it dooes not always work?

YOu can use the parens, (x), wherever VFP expects a single name (a file name, a field name). Otherwise, you need either EVAL() or &.

If you have FoxPro Advisor, check out the April, 2002 issue. I answered this question at length there.

There's also a topic for it in the Hacker's Guide that explains the differences.

Tamar