Thanks a lot, Tore. Your last message, combined with Hilar's has got me what I want. Unfortunately, while you were out, Hilmar got the solution stars, and you get the contribution star! :-)
Terry
>>No, I'm afraid that made no difference. It had still only processed 32 recs out of 5647 in a minut - too slow to catch a cold. Besides, there is still the threat of a C5 near the end of the loop (which I haven't got time to wait for). What I really need is a different way of doing it, I think.
>>
>>Terry
>
>Check that the WHERE statement EXACTLY matches your index expression!
>SELECT ... WHERE RTE_NO+RTE_LET+DIRECTN+STR(SEQNO,4)+STR(NUMBER,3)=something
- Whoever said that women are the weaker sex never tried to wrest the bedclothes off one in the middle of the night
- Worry is the interest you pay, in advance, for a loan that you may never need to take out.