I need to edit a FOCUS dataset. Within a field that captures the street address, I need to amend "street" to "St". Is there a way to do this to all the records where "street" occurs in the field while leaving the rest of the text in that field unchanged.

�Why not use a little MODIFY or MAINTAIN?

Example (replace bold texts with proper values):
--------------------------------------------------
MAINTAIN FILE table

-* Read - All rows with 'Street'.
FOR ALL NEXT key fields INTO STK
WHERE ADDRESS EQ 'Street'

-* Process - Change ADDRESS value to 'St.'.
REPEAT STK.FOCCOUNT I/I5 = 1 ;
STK(I).ADDRESS = 'St.' ;
ENDREPEAT I=I+1 ;

-* Update.
FOR ALL UPDATE table.ADDRESS FROM STK(1)

-* Errors.
TYPE "ERROR: <FOCERROR "
END
-RUN
--------------------------------------------------

Regards,
Mikel

quick and dirty way that works like a charm
Add a define to the bottom of the master file which you utilize in reading the database.
(1)Use the userwritten subroutine POSIT to find the location in the field "STREETADDRESS" of the string "Street".
Posit will return an integer. If the integer is 0, the string doesn't exist in the field.
(2)Use the routine SUBSTRING to split the address field into two parts, the part before the "street" and the part after. Use the POSIT integer minus 1 as the endpoint of the first string, and POSIT integer plus 7 as the startpoint of the second half.
(3) glue the whole thing back together
STREETADDRESS/a20=firstpart | 'St.' | secondpart.
Remember that the three parts don't have to add up to 20, just as long as they are <= 20.
You can do all this in defines in the master.
When you give the exact same name to the resultant field "STREETADDRESS" that exists inthe master itself, then every read against that file will use the last-found value in the master of whatever you define; So in this case, referencing STREETADDRESS will always give you the new one. This is a very handy technique for cleaning icky data, especially if it comes from an outside source and is refreshed alot. You can clean out funky special characters this way...lots of cool things you can clean up.
If you need help doing it this way, holler back.
The user-written subroutines booklet is the 4th book in the 5.2 manual set. If you're on 43x, you'll need to order if off IBI's bookstore website.
There's also an OVERLAY function

oops let me clarify where that book is.
If you're 52x its the 'USING FUNCTIONS' manual.
If you're 43x its actually included in the developing apps manual, both part of the standard manual set for webfocus.
cheers.