DBF Table named Order in VFP

Question

DBF Table named Order in VFP

Paul Waldner 0

DBF Table named Order in VFP i think you can't have a tlb named order can anyone help with this problem.

Update ORDER ;

SET ORDER.GROUP = 'Apples' ;

WHERE ORDER.GROUP == 'Apple'

Akhil Gajavelly 1,820 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-02-18T04:36:14.2133333+00:00

Hi @Paul Waldner ,

Glad to know it’s working now. If one of the replies helped you reach this fix, please consider marking that response as Accepted Solution. It really helps others who might run into the same problem later and makes the thread easier to navigate.

Thanks again for coming back and closing the loop.

Thanks,
Akhil.

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Akhil Gajavelly 1,820 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-02-18T04:36:14.2133333+00:00

Hi @Paul Waldner ,

Glad to know it’s working now. If one of the replies helped you reach this fix, please consider marking that response as Accepted Solution. It really helps others who might run into the same problem later and makes the thread easier to navigate.

Thanks again for coming back and closing the loop.

Thanks,
Akhil.

Answer 1

Paul Waldner 0

Thanks to all who replied to my question

I got it fixed by renaming my table it was not ideal but it fixed my problem

again thanks for your response

0 comments

Answer 2

Erland Sommarskog 133.9K MVP Volunteer Moderator

Possibly, you can use double quotes:

UPDATE "ORDER"
SET "GROUP" = 'Apples' 
WHERE "GROUP" = 'Apple'

That is the ANSI standard for quoting identifiers, but if FoxPro supports that I have no idea. You are using a tag for SQL Server, and different database products have different dialects of SQL.

Akhil Gajavelly 1,820 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-02-12T03:55:13.5233333+00:00

Hi @Paul Waldner ,

Thanks for jumping in and sharing that @Erland Sommarskog .

You’re absolutely right double quotes are the ANSI standard for quoting identifiers, but in this case we’re dealing with Visual FoxPro, not SQL Server (the tag was a bit misleading).

In VFP, using an alias is generally the safest and most reliable approach when table/field names conflict with reserved keywords. Quoted identifiers may work depending on settings, but aliasing avoids any ambiguity.

Appreciate your input and clarification about dialect differences that’s an important point.

Thanks,
Akhil.

Answer 3

In Visual FoxPro (VFP), the use of reserved keywords as table names can lead to issues. The word "ORDER" is a reserved keyword in SQL, which is used for sorting results. Therefore, using it as a table name can cause confusion or errors in your queries.

To avoid this problem, you can either rename your table to something that is not a reserved keyword or use square brackets around the table name in your SQL statements to indicate that it is a table name rather than a keyword. For example:

UPDATE [ORDER] 
SET [GROUP] = 'Apples' 
WHERE [GROUP] = 'Apple'

This way, you can successfully execute your SQL statement without running into issues related to the reserved keyword.

If you are working with SQL Server, similar principles apply regarding reserved keywords. However, the context provided does not include specific guidance on VFP, so it's important to refer to VFP documentation for further assistance.

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DBF Table named Order in VFP

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