My original question was: === I have a question which I'm sure is a FAQ, but have not been able to locate the answer, my apologies if it's right in front of my face, but I just don't see it. :) I have some records in which I need to update a text field. How do I update them en mass? The scenario: adding a text label/id to stream watersheds. Currently I select the relevant vectors, browse the selection table, paste an identical text string a few hundred times into the "ws_id" field. === Through a combination of experimentation and reading through the various suggestions emailed to me I eventually discovered my error lay in misunderstanding how the expressions work. More specifically, use the concatenate operator (+). Interactively: - Select/Query the elements to operate on - Table > Update Column - Table to Update: Selection or Query# - Column to Update: ws_id - Get Value from Table: Selection or Query# * Value: +"text string" And to accomplish the same task in the map basic window: 1. Select the relevant vectors 2. In the Mapbasic window, type Update Selection Set ws_id = "text string" Where 'Selection' is the table/query/selection and 'ws_id' is the column and ' "text string" ' is some sort of text. Define the column as Char in Maintain Table. If the idea is to create a unique record ID, you could use this: Update tablename set columnname = rowid or whatever you want to put instead (rowid+100000, 1, a, centroidX(obj).....). 'rowid' is basically the row number. Thanks to all the respondants. Everybody was kind with no flames for not understanding something so simple. :) cheers, -matt ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe from this list, send e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put "unsubscribe MAPINFO-L" in the message body, or contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]