John,

There is no difference between the kinds of quotes used... the problem was the space you put between them. *g*

* BAD:
copy to o:\apinvcln.txt deli with ' ' (1 space) with tab.

* GOOD:
copy to o:\apinvcln.txt deli with '' with tab
copy to o:\apinvcln.txt deli with "" with tab
copy to o:\apinvcln.txt deli with [] with tab

>thanks, it worked! This is the first time I have ever seen a difference between the single and double quotes. I had not tried the double quote assuming it would be the same result.

>>No space.

copy to o:\apinvcln.txt deli with ""  with tab

>>>I can't seem to get the copy to delimeted to export a VFP table without some kind of marker on each side of each field. Currently I am using this command:
>>>
>>>copy to o:\apinvcln.txt deli with ' ' (1 space) with tab.
>>>
>>>This works ok but encloses each field with spaces. If I use the empty '' I get the ' on each side of the field.
>>>I tried BLANK in place of the space but I get a syntax error.
>>>