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If the name of a variable or a field in a work area contains a space, you may enclose the name in colons, for example:

local :a var:

:a var: = 4

? :a var: // Displays 4

Creating variables with spaces in them is strongly discouraged, but for some table types, it is not unlikely to get field names with spaces. If you create automem variables for that table, those variables will also have spaces.

However, if you’re using the data objects instead of the Xbase DML, the fields are contained in a fields array and are referenced by name. The field name is a character expression, so you don’t have to do anything different if the field name contains a space. The colons are not used.

You may also use colons when designating a table in a database. The name of the database is enclosed in colons before the name of the table, in the form:

:database:table

For example:

use :IBLOCAL:EMPLOYEE // IBLOCAL is sample Interbase database