Paul,

Try

SELECT TOP 5 dDate ;
  FROM mytable ;
  GROUP BY 1 ;
  ORDER BY 1 DESC ;
  INTO CURSOR crsDates

SELECT * ;
	FROM mytable ;
	WHERE dDate IN ( ;
		SELECT dDate FROM crsDates)

In VFP9 it could be done in one query

SELECT * ;
	FROM mytable ;
	WHERE dDate IN ( ;
		SELECT TOP 5 dDate ;
		  FROM mytable ;
		  GROUP BY 1 ;
		  ORDER BY 1 DESC )

>
>MyTable is:
>
>cSname dDate
>
>aaaaaa 08/15/2004
>bbbbbb 08/15/2004
>
>cccccc 08/17/2004
>dddddd 08/17/2004
>
>eeeeee 08/19/2004
>
>ffffff 08/14/2004
>gggggg 08/14/2004
>
>hhhhhh 08/20/2004
>iiiiii 08/21/2004
>
>jjjjjj 08/03/2004
>kkkkkk 08/03/2004
>
>I would like to put the last 5 days into Mycursorresult to have
>
>aaaaaa 08/15/2004 ( day number 5 to pick )
>bbbbbb 08/15/2004
>
>cccccc 08/17/2004
>dddddd 08/17/2004
>
>eeeeee 08/19/2004
>
>hhhhhh 08/20/2004
>iiiiii 08/21/2004 ( day number 1 to pick )
>
>I try this but never worked because dDate can be skipped 1 or more days in
>between like the above sample.
>
>local ldStart,ldStop,lcQuery
>
>ldStart = first day to pick {08/21/2004}
>ldStop = 5th day to pick {08/15/2004}
>
>** and it is not the last 5 days in the row from 08/21/2004 to 08/17/2004
>
>lcQuery=Select * from mytable where dDate between ?ldStart and ?ldStop
>
>into mycursorresult
>
>Please fix my query or advise me how to do it
>TIA